The Battle of Victory, 2546
by SquadDesignatedWhiskeyThief
Summary: The Human-Covenant War. A besieged Inner Colony. The stories and sacrifices of the men and women of the UNSC. Contains moderate swearing and extreme violence.
1. Colonel Thomas Baker 1

**UNSC Colony Victory, 2546.**

_Col Baker, T. Day 1, 0400 Hours_

He had gone over the latest reports throughout the course of the night. Colonel Baker blinked through weary eyes as he scanned the numerous tablets and holographic displays of data. Few other Marines were present in his headquarters, having retired to their quarters for the night. Soon however, the entire brigade would be very busy, and there would be no time for sleep.

For two months, the Covenant had battered away at Victory's defenses. The once heavily populated Inner Colony world was now scorched black on over 70% of its surface. Victory City was the only urban center still held by the UNSC. Being the only remaining means for colonists to escape, the UNSC guarded it heavily. Three ground-based super MAC cannons were hidden away within the mountain ranges surrounding the city. As long as they remained active, Covenant ships wouldn't be able to glass the city from orbit.

Currently, Marine forces had themselves positioned in and around the valley the city resided in. The Colonel's own 15th MEU was headquartered in downtown, amidst the skyscrapers and tight city streets. They had only been in theater for a month. Occasionally, Covenant Seraphs would fly over the city, exchanging fire with the UNSC's AA guns. The unit's Naval strike group had to ship down additional Scythe anti-air guns. Two weeks ago, a small Covenant strike team entered the city, disabling several of the guns before being hunted down by his Marines. Now they were waiting for the moment the Covenant would attempt to bring an end to the siege.

SgtMaj Bruner was the first to walk in, grabbing a cup of coffee and removing the cover from his shaven head. "Haven't slept at all Thomas?" he asked.

Col Baker, without turning from his work, shook his head and responded, "No. I won't have time to either," he turned and handed the SgtMaj one of the tablets, "Look. The Covenant are increasing their presence in the sector, and the Navy reported several battlecruisers entering the atmosphere."

"So they want to completely encircle us," the SgtMaj said as he analyzed the data, "They won't be able to fly any closer though. The MAC cannons can adjust fire and knock them out of the sky."

"Unless they decrease their altitude below the cannon's field of view. In that case our SAMs won't be enough."

"Right. I know they don't give a damn about casualties sir but a battlecruiser won't be able to get that low if it wants hover over the city."

"Well, I expect thousands of Covenant aircraft."

" I'll get the men to stand to. Then we'll call a leader's brief." The SgtMaj finished his coffee and marched away purposefully. A nearby Marine, manning the comm equipment, stood up and approached the Colonel.

"Sir, General Vaughn is on the line. Ready to open up."

Colonel Baker nodded without hesitation. The entire night had been spent studying and analyzing battlefield data, it was no surprise that the commander of the local 27th Marine Division would eventually come by asking for a report. A screen clicked on. For a moment there was static, the only thing visible being the letters U-N-S-C in the lower right corner of the screen. Then it re-calibrated, and the General appeared.

"Colonel have you received the data my headquarters sent you?"

"Yes sir. We're standing to and I'm ready to brief my leaders."

"Good to hear," the General said.

"Sir, have we been able to expedite the evacuation process?"

"No Colonel, unfortunately not. Civilian convoys are still coming in from outside the valley, and we hardly have the window to launch the transports. We need the Navy back in the fight. Your men will need to continue holding their ground."

Col Baker silently cursed to himself. The longer they sat still, the sooner it would be before the Covenant finally disabled their defenses. There was only so much his men could do in their situation. He needed more resources. The General had already gone over the available supply and support that would be at their disposal: artillery from a firebase southeast of the city, aerial assets flying out of the star port and various mountain bases, medevac transports, supply depots, and of course, the MAC cannons. It wasn't enough. They had a tenth of what they needed, but he knew that thousands of Marines that had gone before have had to do more with less. The Colonel nodded and spoke, "Understood sir. We'll get it done."

"I understand the need to get the civilians out Colonel. They're priority number one to me. We've got refugees overflowing their quarters and too many transports queued up to launch, the first thing I want to do when we get the chance is to get them off-world as soon as possible." The General then nodded grimly and the line terminated from his end.

SgtMaj Bruner walked in, trailed by the company commanders, staff officers, and senior NCOs of his force. Col Baker turned to them and motioned towards the digital displays and reports on the table. "Gentlemen, we have a long fight on the way..."


	2. First Lieutenant Kate Tilleger 1

_1Lt Tilleger, K. Day 1, 0800 Hrs_

"Talon 2, spun up and ready to go," Lt Kate Tilleger announced over the radio as she finished her pre-flight console check. In the gunner seat to the front, 2Lt Ansley conducted his onboard weapons check. Kate flipped a switch and her Sparrowhawk prepared for takeoff. Glancing outside the canopy, she saw her wingman nod and give her a thumbs-up.

"Copy that Talon 2," her flight leader affirmed over the radio, "Tower this is Talon flight, four Sparrowhawks, lifting off and commencing patrol."

"Talon flight this is Tower, you are clear for take-off. Godspeed today."

"Roger that Tower, Talon out."

Kate settled back in her seat and took the controls in her hands. She applied the thrust, and with a whir, the Sparrowhawk lifted into the air. The engines ignited with a boom, shooting a steady wave of heat and flame as the aircraft rose in altitude. Pushing forward on the controls, her vehicle tilted forward and she maneuvered it into formation beside Talon 1. Talon 3 and Talon 4 pulled up beside them as well.

The four AV-22 VTOLs commenced their patrol over the cityscape of Victory City. Flying in formation, they passed over downtown, flying over the reservoir and residential districts to the northwest, before turning east and skirting the northeast edge of the valley. Both pilot and gunner kept their eyes open, scanning the crest of the mountains for signs of Covenant aircraft.

Ansley was getting anxious, so far as Kate could tell. Despite having already checked the weapons for maximum operability, the gunner continued to switch between each system and re-evaluate them every few minutes. Their AV-22s were equipped with a 20mm minigun under the nose, two 30mm autocannons beneath the wings, two air-to-ground missiles, two air-to-air missiles, and two rocket pods on the ends of each wing tip. They had launched with a full load that morning, and Lt Ansley was simply trying to reassure himself that if the need arose, they would be able to expend every ounce of their munitions. He was skilled at his job, but relatively new and less experienced than her.

Lt Tilleger wanted to reassure her co-pilot, but she was unable to work up the nerve to do so. She was anxious about today as well – more than anxious, it felt. The reports of enemy movement during the morning, the briefing before their flight, the urgency of all personnel on the ground only told her one thing. Letting out a breath to calm her nerves, Kate tried to focus solely on her controls.

After a while, Ansley spoke up, "Gonna be another day in the office."

Kate took her eyes off the cockpit's HUD. "Huh?" she asked, having not heard him.

"I said it's just another day at the office."

She smiled politely, "Yeah."

"So when we get off this rock, who's buying the drinks?" He asked, not taking his eyes off his controls.

Kate chuckled this time. "That would be you."

"Me? Buy for these other clowns flying up here with us? But I'm just starting to get sick of them." He was grinning, Kate couldn't see it, but he said it as if he were.

"So you'd just buy me a drink?" she teased.

"Don't even! You're horrible! I'm still gonna get you back for that tattoo on Reach."

"Oh, I'm just glad to be of service."

They were silent for another few minutes of flight. Then Talon 1 transmitted over the radio, "Talon be advised, Flint Base to the north is currently under air attack by the Covenant. Keep your eyes peeled for bogeys crossing the mountains."

"Sir," Talon 3, a gruff, older, British voice asked over the radio, "Are we moving to assist Flint Base at all?"

"Negative. Command wants us to hold formation over the valley."

Tilleger flipped through the radio frequencies, scanning other unit's channels. The infantry units below were digging in, civilians were being placed into shelters, and command was in constant traffic with reconnaissance units throughout the valley. One particular report caught her attention. A recon team operating to the city's southeast reporting Covenant aircraft flying fast and low towards the city. Just then, the flight commander came in over the radio.

"Talon. We have multiple Covenant bogeys approaching from vector 1-6-0. Correct your heading and move to engage."

Tilleger made the necessary adjustments with her aircraft, then replied, "Talon 2 here. Copy that." She started taking long, deep breaths in order to keep herself composed. She pushed forward on the thrust, and the jets on the AV-22 rocketed the aircraft on an intercept course with the enemy craft.

Ansley gripped his controls. "Here we go, Tilleger."

She kept silent, focused solely on piloting the craft and scanning for the Covenant. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see other aircraft responding to the threat as well. A flight of five Hornets sped past them on the right. Several other squadrons were well ahead of them. Over the radio she heard another pilot call out in alarm, "Tally ho! Tally ho! Enemy aircraft, dozens of 'em!"

Tilleger sat up and scanned the other end of the valley, just as another voice called in on the radio asking for a more precise report. Several mid-air explosions rocked the clouds at the far end. Then, whatever composure she had maintained up until that point was swept from her.

Emerging into the sky as if it had been hidden in the ground, a Covenant corvette rose menacingly from the clouds over the city's industrial district. It maintained its altitude well below that of the mountain range, avoiding the traverse of the MAC cannons. Within seconds, it began a destructive bombardment of the ground below, and dozens of Covenant landing craft poured out of its hanger.

Talon 1 called over the radio, "Talon flight! Fall back to defensive pattern! Do not engage that corvette."

Lt Tilleger yanked on the controls and pulled her hawk away from the intercept course. The corvette was exchanging blinding bolts of plasma with the UNSC's point defense guns and anti-air missiles. A path of fire followed beneath it as it slowly cruised towards the city. Phantoms broke formation from around the Covenant ship and began descending upon the space port and the main urban areas. They were just within range of her aircraft.

"Uh Talon 1, this is Talon 2. We're gonna engage those Phantoms at two o'clock." She adjusted her flight and locked in a path behind one of the alien dropships. "Ansley!"she yelled.

Lt Ansley stammered stressfully, "G-got it." He activated one of the air-to-air missiles, waited for Kate to lock-on, and when they acquired tone, he jammed the trigger as hard as he could. "Missile away!" A missile rocketed out from the rightside pylon; it collided with a phantom and sent it bursting into a ball of flame and plasma.

Ansley cheered through grit teeth, but Tilleger was calm. "Okay, next target." Ansley armed the second missile. Kate lined up the target, another Phantom, and the gunner let the missile loose. The alien craft spun wildly out of control, slamming into a wide, six story building and burning up in flames.

Several Banshees broke formation and turned to counterattack. They had no more air-to-air missiles. Ansley switched to the chin-mounted gun. The rest of Talon flight flew to join them. Kate grimaced, and the Banshees closed in.


	3. Lance Corporal Joshua Knight 1

_LCpl Knight, J. Day 1, 1030 Hrs_

The men of Bravo Company, 1/15 Marines, 58th MEU were out on patrol again. When the seraphs started bombarding the hills north of the city, the Marines were ordered to evacuate any remaining civilians from their homes. After the initial pass of Covenant aircraft, the company commander ordered another sweep of the streets to both police Covenant activity, and to pick up any civilian stragglers.

2nd Platoon moved in a staggered column throughout an abandoned neighborhood street. With every block they reached, a fireteam would break off from the platoon for every building they passed by. The men moved quickly, forcing their way into homes, moving room to room, and shouting their presence. They found few civilians, and preferred to move fast. The longer they were moving about, the more chance they had of being ambushed by the Covenant.

Lance Corporal Joshua Knight pulled security from a ridge as the platoon finished searching yet another neighborhood. From his position, he could see the whole valley, now engulfed in heavy fighting. Already, thousands of Covenant had managed to land. Other than the corvette, a massive aerial landing came at the city from the sea to the west. Their lines were heavily disrupted, and the Covenant were everywhere. He silently bemoaned the fact that he had to be out in the open, moving about from street to street, waiting to get shot at.

His team leader, LCpl Remann, whistled tersely at him and the other members of the team. Remann lifted his non-firing hand, palm facing upwards. Then he motioned down the street where the rest of the platoon was headed. Acknowledging the signal, the team rose to their feet and fell into formation with the rest of the unit.

Over the platoon leader's radio, the Marines heard Lieutenant Lann talking with 3rd Platoon. "Warrior 3 Actual, say again over," he asked in his thick Alabaman accent.

"Warrior 2, this is 3 Actual. We're at the rally point, holding in a defensive posture northwest of the intersection. Expecting contact with Covenant, how copy over?"

"Solid copy 3 Actual – expecting Covenant, break. We're oscar mike from the east, half a klick out. I'm gonna send out a recon, check your sector for friendlies."

"Roger 2. Warrior 3 Actual out."

Lt Lann motioned to the leader of 3rd Squad, Cpl Haines. Haines and the LT discussed something for a few moments, and then the LT called the unit to a halt. Every man took a knee behind whatever cover they could find, facing outwards to provide security. The young, fresh-faced Cpl ran over to his squad, of which Knight happened to be a part of, and he crouched down beside his three team leaders. Remann then got up from the squad leader and went to his men.

"Alright, LT wants us to push out and recon the area between us and 3rd Platoon. Alpha team's gonna get the houses on the right, Charlie's on the street, and we got the left," Remann announced. Then he got up and motioned to his men, "Let's go."

Knight followed along. When they got to the first house, Remann, and PFC Hernandez cleared the building. Knight and PFC Greenholder moved up towards the second house. Unlike Hernandez, who was large, competent, and trustworthy with a heavy weapon such as his M41 launcher, Greenholder was a bit slower than the rest. The rookie PFC stopped just outside a rather slightly ajar side door, glancing curiously inside through the gap. Knight grabbed the PFC and yanked him back out of the doorway. The Lance Corporal hit the console for the door, and it slid open. Both Marines moved quietly inside, clearing the building room by room.

The top floor had lost its roof, and most of the floor was charred black. Again, LCpl Knight could see the whole valley from here. He took up a position overlooking the rest of the hill below him. Just then, movement caught his eye. Down in the trees, several hundred meters away, he spotted shapes moving through the foliage. Colorful armor and fast-moving, alien bodies stood out from the green of the hillside. They were headed towards the Marines' rally point.

Knight turned to Greenholder and spoke, "We got contact."

"Where?" the PFC asked in both apprehension and excitement.

"Down in the treeline." He pointed down into the valley. Greenholder came up to take a look, but as soon as he stepped into an open window, he was knocked flat against the wall. The LCpl was on top of him, scolding, "Hey idiot, don't go silhouetting yourself. Jackals are down there."

"Sorry."

He got onto his feet and pulled the PFC along. "C'mon let's get downstairs." Upon seeing Remann, he spoke up, "Remann, we got contact. Covenant are down the hill moving towards Warrior 3's position."

"Alright. Good job." Remann then got onto his helmet comm and relayed the information to Haines, who relayed it to Lt Lann. Then the squad leader came up to get a look at the Covenant. However, he didn't manage to see as many as Knight had – the enemy soldiers were moving too fast.

Before long, the call came in over the radio that 3rd Platoon was taking contact just ahead, and the sounds of gunfire in the distance confirmed it. Their squad, Warrior 2-3, immediately fell back in with the rest of the platoon. Lt Lann ordered them to double time it. The sounds of gunfire were becoming louder towards the front. Several explosions met their ears, and the men readied their rifles as they moved to support their allies. Then a voice from 3rd Platoon called in, "Warrior 2, this is 3. We are falling back. Covenant have outflanked us and we can no longer hold the intersection, over."

Lt Lann was decisive in his reply, "Roger Warrior 3. We're gonna push forward and hit them from the rear. Check your fire, over."

"Copy. Warrior 3, out."

As soon as he finished speaking, bursts of fire from plasma rifles began cutting into their ranks. Marines ducked frantically and rushed to cover, all the while shouting "Contact!" and returning fire. 1st Squad was at the front, returning fire and advancing towards the enemy. Knight dropped and hugged the concrete. A plasma grenade detonated in the middle of the street, showering him with debris. Several Marines rushed past him, MA5's chattering. As soon as Knight rose up to his knees to join them, he saw one of his fellow Marines take several hits and drop down in front of him. Knight recognized him and grabbed the man, pulling him into cover behind a low wall. The Marine was LCpl Christopher Nichols. Knight cursed to himself as he collected the dog tags. Nichols was KIA.

Across the street, Knight saw Remann cutting through an alley, busting through a gate and knocking over debris. His team leader disappeared around the corner. Knight looked behind him and saw the rest of the fireteam. Hernandez, Greenholder, and several other squadmates were crouched low in the grass. He motioned to them and shouted above the sound of the firefight, "Remann's across the street! We're going around, let's move!" He rose up and rushed across the road, plasma whipped through the air around him. With his body crashing against the side of a house, he looked behind and saw his squadmates fall in beside him. Nodding, he turned and advanced up the alley, and they followed him.

Behind the houses were a courtyard and a community pool for the residents who had once occupied the surrounding cluster of homes. The Marines advanced forward. Remann was just ahead, trotting along the edges of the pool. Knight spotted him and sprinted up to him, but as soon as he caught up, a Grunt rounded the corner in front of them. They both cursed and fired, their MA5's ripping the alien to pieces and tearing apart the nearby poolside decor.

As the first one fell, a much taller one came around, this one fast and armored in a dark shade of blue. White hot fire burst from the weapon in its hand, and a bolt struck Remann in the chest. It knocked him flat on his back. Knight reacted, unloading his assault rifle in a fully automatic barrage. Rounds ricocheted off the alien, and it ducked behind a vertical slab of concrete as the pulsing energy field protecting it began to diminish. The Marine ducked behind concrete of his own as the Elite returned fire. Plasma seared through his cover, peppering him with falling debris. He unclipped a grenade from his torso, primed it, and tossed it towards the attacker. The elite let out a roar before the grenade exploded. Out of the dust, several more Grunts began to appear. But seeing Knight emerge to engage them, as well as the rest of the fire team now advancing forward, they panicked and were cut down by rifle fire.

Knight went over to Remann and knelt beside him. Remann sat up, dazed. He examined his armor – a single scorched hole was formed around the center of his chest plate. Knight spoke in disbelief as he helped him to his feet, "Not even wounded man. "

Remann shook his head. "Can't let it happen again." He went over to the nearest house. "Stack up," he ordered, "We're gonna provide cover."

The Marines gathered beside the door, and when Remann opened it, they stormed inside. Quickly, they secured both floors and took up positions by the front door and windows. Hernandez, Greenholder, and Knight were on the second floor, firing at the enemy flanks from above. Four other Marines from alpha team were on the first floor, PFC Reintz, PFC Hollis, LCpl Day, and their team leader, Cpl Herndon. The other members of their squad were just outside the back door.

Knight fired a burst from his MA5, then ducked behind the walls to reload. Returning plasma fire impacted and fizzed around the window he stood by. Greenholder was at another window across the room, taking potshots whenever he could. From the next room, a heavy blast of air rocked the house, followed by a small cloud of smoke trailing from the hall. A devastating explosion from the Covenant position signaled the use of Hernandez' M41 against the enemy. Reintz began firing 40mm grenades from his M319. Knight leaned over and fired two quick bursts from his assault rifle, watching a Jackal go down in the hail of lead. Hollis and Day gunned down an Elite making a rush for the entryway. Then several Jackals and Grunts attempted to advance on the house before being pushed back.

Remann came bursting into the room yelling, "Shift fire, Shift fire! They're pushing up." Outside, Lt Lann led the Marines forward, driving back the Covenant soldiers. Knight, Hernandez, and Greenholder continued to take potshots from their position as the assault gained way. Finally, the Covenant forces were driven off.

While the Marines ahead linked up with the other platoon, 3rd Squad assessed their casualties. "Damnit, man down!" Cpl John Herndon shouted. He was crouched beside the lifeless body of PFC Reintz. Nobody had seen him go down in the chaos. The corporal, a resilient Marine, though slightly in shock, went to inform the squad leader. Haines told him to collect the tags, and then he began informing the platoon leader over the radio. Day was also with the squad leader, pouring biofoam into a small wound on his left arm.

Cpl Sanders, Charlie team's leader, examined the body. He sighed, wiping his large, dark brow. Then he turned to the squad and asked, "Who's gonna carry the 319?"

"Don't worry about it. He was my guy, I'll carry it," Herndon spoke up, walking back to the squad. He had been distraught earlier, but was calm now. He picked up Reintz' grenade launcher and all the ammo that went with it.

Now all that was left was to await the medevac birds. Then they would head back to the company headquarters. Remann turned to Knight, and Knight looked back knowingly. Knight turned back to Greenholder and Hernandez, "Alright guys, we're gonna set up an LZ. Bird's coming in." And they set about their work.


	4. Lance Corporal Daniel Gronin 1

_LCpl Gronin, D. Day 1, 1300 Hrs._

"2nd and 3rd are coming back from their fight." Lance Corporal Daniel Gronin said in a voice traced with the slightest hint of a Russian accent. He peered through the scope of an SRS99, observing the returning platoons in the distance. He and his spotter were perched atop a five-story school building that Bravo Company was using as a command post.

Beside him, Lance Corporal Jeff "Meat" Hammond watched the Covenant corvette through his spotting scope. Flashes of light erupted within the clouds of smoke around the alien vehicle. Explosions rippled both throughout the air and down upon the ground, leaving flame and haze all throughout the valley. The corvette continued to pound the UNSC defenses. Hammond asked Gronin, "Any contact?"

"Nothing yet, but they'll be coming from the south now."

Hammond shifted his attention in that direction, scanning the building and roads leading towards a nearby park. The lance of Covenant had come from that nearby park and tried to push up on the company's left flank, only to be outflanked by 2nd platoon. Now 2nd and 3rd were consolidating their strength and forming an even tighter defense a block away from Company HQ. The only reasonable choice the Covenant troops had was to try to attack 1st platoon to the south, who were guarding the roadway leading downhill.

They waited for Warrior 1 to take contact, but no attack came. The two Marines were disciplined enough to remain silent and wait, but they were restless too. After a while, Gronin spoke up, "Meat, you see anything at all?"

"Nah."

Gronin was more anxious than his friend. He had been waiting ever since they landed on Victory to fire a shot from his weapon in combat. Now his chance would finally arrive, but the Covenant just weren't making their move. Perhaps the other Marines were repelling their attacks too well. The young sniper rubbed his eyes underneath his ballistic lenses.

"What the hell? Look at that." Hammond pointed out. The corvette began to rise up into the air, flying almost vertically. It loomed high above the city. Soon, it began to bombard larger swathes of area with plasma, hitting warehouses, the spaceport, and downtown all at once. Then it shifted slightly. Suddenly, massive rounds of plasma shot out of the corvette, this time hurling towards the two snipers.

They cursed, hurriedly picking up and ducking behind some nearby vents for cover. Gronin closed his eyes as he awaited the impact. The thought of never having the chance to kill even one Covenant crossed his mind. He lay there for a brief second, anticipating his death.

A thunderous boom shattered his ears and shook his body as the plasma rounds impacted. One round hit three floors below them, obliterating all three of the floors in between. Another round hit the far side of the roof, the concussion rocking through Gronin. The other two rounds hit the other parts of the building, causing extensive damage to it. Before they could even stand, another barrage hit the building. Gronin stumbled as he tried to stand, but the explosions knocked him aside. Hammond was beside him, clutching onto the rooftop vents for balance. Both of their ears rang as their bodies were knocked around by the explosions. This time however, the roof began to crack, and then sink. Then, as another round struck the building, the roof caved in altogether. Gronin and Hammond fell through the building, holding onto their small piece of the roof as rubble crashed down all around them.

In a daze, Gronin awoke amidst smoke and flames. His ears heard nothing save for the sound of ringing. He saw Hammond lying nearby, and he panicked at the thought of losing his friend. But then the spotter stirred and got up to his feet. They looked at one another and then all around them, exchanging looks of confusion and worry.

"Do you think anyone's alive?" Gronin asked, but his voice sounded mute to his partially functioning ears.

Hammond said something to him, but he couldn't hear it. The big Lance Corporal grabbed his DMR, and Gronin followed suit, grabbing his sniper rifle and checking to see if it still functioned properly. It did. Hammond's weapon however, was damaged from the fall and unusable.

They combed through the rubble, their ears eventually recovering. The building itself was mostly intact on the first floor, save for the rubble from the roof and the floors above. Most of the destroyed structure fell on the outside of the building, and the roof was completely gone, collapsed in and around the school. Other voices were heard combing through the rubble. Dead and wounded Marines lay scattered throughout the destruction, some half-buried in fallen concrete.

First Sergeant Allen shouted above the noise of the rubble, "Marines, gather up the wounded and get your asses outside!" Gronin saw the slight, grizzled, and old former ODST rallying Marines and moving the wounded. He had lost his helmet, and a small stream of blood covered the side of his face.

An RTO ran up to the First Sergeant, "First Sergeant, 2nd has a perimeter outside, but the evac birds are gonna take some time getting all the wounded out."

"PFC, you tell those damn birds to prioritize and load as many men aboard their Pelicans as they can in one go."

"I already did First Sergeant. They're too busy trying to evac units downtown."

"Damnit," Allen dismissed him, and without missing a beat or caring to greet Gronin and Hammond, he said, "Gronin, Hammond, head through the doors and take up a position on the second floor. Covenant are gonna make their assault soon. Don't settle in for long, we're leaving once we get the wounded out of this building."

"Moving First Sergeant!" they both said, rushing through the doors and into the remains of the former cafeteria. A squad from the weapons platoon and some other survivors rushed about the open space, setting up defensive positions and moving the wounded. Overhead, the roof was torn open, and the sun shone in. A set of stairs ran up to the second floor, where just enough of the edges of the floor remained for Marines to take up positions along the walls and windows, overlooking the outside of the structure.

The snipers moved up the stairwell, setting up a position to the south and providing overwatch to Warrior 2 and the medevac Pelicans. As soon as they had settled in they immediately heard gunfire to their rear and Marines yelling, "Contact!" Then it became utter chaos; the Marines were fully engaged while some of their comrades were busy digging out the men buried by rubble. Somebody yelled, "We're being overrun!" and Gronin picked up and shifted his field of fire to the rear.

Down below, Marines fired their MA5s frantically at thin air. Neither Gronin nor Hammond could see any targets. Upon the ad-hoc parapets of the second floor, a team of Marines fired down into the fray, suppressing the far side of the room. Suddenly, a light emerged from behind one of the Marines. The light impaled him and lifted him into the air, and Gronin saw the brief flicker of a leg kicking the dying Marine down onto the floor below. Energy swords appeared around the other Marines too, dispatching them in quick order as the invisible blade wielders leapt below, their active camouflage flickering mid-leap.

Soon, plasma fire began to tear through the Marines beneath them, as dozens of the invisible Elites moved to press in. Gronin brought his weapon up and placed the optic where he saw flashes from a plasma weapon. He fired, the SRS99 booming loudly as the round caught an Elite dead in the chest. It stumbled as its shields fluctuated, but another round put the thing down for good. Gronin watched it go down in satisfaction, having finally killed. He cut his celebrating short however, bringing up another target within quick succession of the last one. He fired again, hitting an Elite in the arm and then losing his sight picture as the alien ducked behind a wall of rubble.

The Marines were being slaughtered down below. An energy sword slashed through the air, cutting a Marine across the chest and sending him to ground, dead. Gronin fired at the Elite who killed him, hitting its head and sending blood and brain matter splattering across the ground. Soon, plasma fire was directed upon them as well. Hammond returned fire with an M6C pistol while Gronin reloaded.

"Fall back! Fall back!" A Marine began yelling in panic. Gronin and Hammond picked up and leapt down onto the stairs, then began running towards the exit doors. Several other Marines hurriedly followed them, being cut down and picked off as they ran for the door. Unbeknownst to the snipers, the Marines were retreating in disarray, and they had all but forgotten those who were still wounded and partially buried beneath the rubble. The Covenant mercilessly butchered them as they lay injured and unable to defend themselves.

The doors shut behind them, and the Marines began to barricade it with rubble and furniture. Besides Gronin and Hammond, only three others made it out. "What the hell are we doing?" one Marine asked.

"We have to get out of here. Let's go," a second Marine responded, his expression terrified and demoralized.

The third Marine was the RTO from earlier. "But we're still medevac-ing the wounded."

"I don't care Belichek. Rubio let's get moving before they break through," the panicked Marine said, motioning to the first Marine.

"What about the wounded Braxton?" Belichek, the RTO, asked.

"We can't save them," Braxton, the panicked PFC, said.

"Privates, get it together!" Gronin shouted, shutting them up, "We don't leave Marines behind. Get in position away from the door. We're gonna buy as much time for those medevac Pelicans as we can. Get to it."

Reluctant to refuse the Lance Corporal, the Marines took up their defensive positions before the door. They huddled against the walls of the dark hallway. A light emerged from the door, glowing brighter as a high-pitched charging foretold an imminent explosion. The door blew open in a suffocating ball of fire and plasma. Immediately, plasma fire filled the hallway. The Marines returned fire, hugging the walls tightly for any chance they might have at avoiding enemy fire. PFC Rubio was the first to go down, being struck by plasma multiple times even as he lay dead. Hammond collapsed against the wall as two rounds struck him, one into the plating on his torso and the other into his arm, causing him to lose his grip on his pistol. Shrugging it off, Hammond reached out for the weapon, reloaded it, and continued to fire at the advancing Elites. All of a sudden, an Elite materialized out of thin air, moving in from a side hall. It stood over PFC Belichek and raised its sword, cutting the Marine halfway down the middle and pulling the energy blade out through the crackling and smoking radio pack upon his back. PFC Braxton lowered his rifle and turned his back, cursing and screaming as he ran down the hall toward the exit.

Gronin and Hammond began to slowly lose ground as well. The volume of fire was so heavy that Gronin was forced to simply empty his sniper rifle into the enemy ranks, hopefully providing enough cover fire for the two of them to fall back to a better position. Their hopes of retreating were dashed however, when a plasma grenade went off in front of their cover, knocking both of them upon the ground.

The Elite who had killed Belichek re-materialized from cloak and advanced upon Gronin, raising its sword to finish him. Before it could deliver the final blow however, a blast of fire and lead erupted across the Elite's chest, causing him to falter and draining away his shields. The sound of a weapon being re-cocked was heard before another shot hit the Elite again, sending its purple-blue blood splattering over Gronin and Hammond. Immediately, a Marine moved to grab the dead Elite and held it standing in place.

The Elites returned fire and advanced, but their shots only impacted against the back of their fallen ally. The unknown Marine dropped his M90 and primed a grenade, tossing it into the throng of Elites, who did their best to avoid the explosion within the cramped hallway, but to no avail. Many were caught in the blast, sending them reeling from the force and shrapnel it had generated. Lacking shields, they scrambled for cover. One of them, angered by the Marine's tenacity, charged forward, firing madly. The Marine dropped the dead Elite and ducked into the fallen rubble Gronin had been using as cover, grabbing his M90 as he did so. As soon as the Elite came upon him, he fired point-blank into the creature's face, killing it instantly.

By now, Gronin and Hammond were moving about and crouched low. Gronin picked up his rifle, reloaded, and attempted to fire, but the Marine waved him down. The two snipers finally got to see the face of the Marine who saved them: First Sergeant Allen. "Get the hell out, now!" He shouted. They refused, so he shouted again, "Go! You're the last ones, so go!" At this, they relented and fell back, staying low to avoid fire, all the while the M90 fired shot after repeated shot at the enemy.

When they made it outside, the M90 was no longer firing. After linking up with the survivors and the Marines from 2nd platoon, they waited to see if the First Sergeant would return. Eventually, the medevac birds were able to take all of their wounded, and the unit began to move out. Believing the Elites to be regrouping and sneaking up on them from another angle, Lt Lann of 2nd platoon pulled everyone out. First Sergeant Allen never returned, but the Elites had stopped their attack and vanished.


	5. Private First Class David Andreas 1

_PFC Andreas, D. Day 1, 1330 Hrs._

Private First Class David Andreas watched the Covenant corvette climb higher into the sky. Shells of bright blue plasma rocketed down onto the city below. Then several streaks of blue fire hurled down to the west, impacting Bravo Company's AO. Like Bravo, Andreas and Alpha Company had spent the majority of the morning evacuating any remaining refugees too stubborn to evacuate to the space port any sooner. Their area of operations had been a massive apartment complex to the east, just outside the mountain highway leading north out of the valley. They had cleared the complex in record time and were holding their position, awaiting orders before becoming transfixed on the spectacle they now saw before them.

As the corvette continued to gain altitude and fire upon the city, a bolt of golden light shook the clouds over the southern end of the valley. The lightning round rocketed through the corvette's midsection at high velocity, shattering it in half amidst a thunderous explosion. The trees swayed from the sheer force of the explosion, and the ground and windows shook and shattered. The corvette, now burning blue, yellow, and purple, rapidly descended upon the valley. Its crash was equally as thunderous and earth-shaking as the weapon that had brought it down. The tail end crashed lower into the valley, erupting in flames and secondary explosions, while the front half landed directly east of them, carving a path right through the apartments Alpha had cleared earlier that day.

Their CO, Captain Ragland, called his platoon leaders together. He had received orders from Colonel Baker to seize, secure, and defend the corvette's crash site and bridge. He briefed his men as quickly as he could, for the Covenant would soon be rushing for the objective as well. Alpha Company was made up of three platoons and their weapons attachments. 1st was to move up the left flank and secure a perimeter along the north of the crashed ship. 3rd would move along the right flank and secure the south end of the ship. 2nd would push directly into the wreckage, kill or capture any survivors, and maintain a defensive position from inside the ruins. All of the machine guns and sniper teams would take up overwatch positions in the apartment complex, providing cover for the rest of the company while they conducted the assault.

In short order, the briefings were disseminated throughout the ranks, moving downwards from lieutenants to platoon sergeants, to squad leaders, then team leaders, and then to the lower enlisted. The Marines took all essential gear and left what they didn't need back at the company staging area. Soon, they were in position and ready to move. Cpt Ragland gave the order, and the men were underway, moving hurriedly but silently through the neighborhood streets, scanning every corner and rooftop they came across.

Andreas was the anti-tank specialist in his squad. He was a big man in his early twenties, so he was easily able to carry both his MA5 and a full combat load alongside the loaded M41 slung across his back. PFC Vang, a short and young eighteen-year-old, carried four rockets in a pack across his back. PFC Gonzalez, a rifleman, was the only one who didn't carry extra gear. Their team leader was LCpl Gordon. He led them into the shadow of the burning and ruined apartments with calm and competence despite his young age. Along with the rest of 2nd platoon, they cautiously began to sift through the ruins of the corvette.

All around him, flames swirled and rose. Andreas found that he had to be mindful of the wreckage above him too, as drops of flame and small, burning pieces of metal occasionally crashed down around the Marines. Torn and mangled alien bodies lay scattered everywhere. The Marines kicked at and thumped each body with their rifle muzzles, secretly hoping that the bodies would stir so that they could find reprieve in personally ending their lives.

As soon as they entered the corvette, 2nd platoon began to split up, first by squad, then by fireteams. Eventually, Gordon led the team to a defensible position on the far side of the ship. The hull had been torn from the ship on two decks, providing a decent view of the highway on the far side of the crash site but managing to give the Marines enough cover at the same time. Their platoon leader coordinated the security of the Marines throughout the ship, placing the machine guns and snipers who had moved up to join them throughout the ship and into adjacent buildings. Meanwhile, Cpt Ragland and another fireteam secured the bridge.

The team waited while the leadership scoured the ship's control room. Every Marine remained silent, intent on defense. Andreas wondered how long they would have to remain in this position, and he knew many of the other Marines wondered the same thing too. They did not enjoy being on the defensive, but their orders were to hold the crash site. He knew the Covenant were out there, stalking amidst the buildings within his field of fire. The distant booming of artillery and gunfire echoed around him and the others. Somewhere, Marines were in the middle of the fight of their lives, but Alpha's sector was quiet. Too quiet.

Gordon crouched beside Andreas and Vang. "Keep your eyes on that tower on the ridge," he said, pointing to a skinny building rising above a small but dense treeline atop a hill, some long distance away.

"Do we know if any hostiles are coming Lance Corporal?" Vang asked.

"No. Just keep scanning your sector and do your job Marine, okay?"

"Ooh-rah."

The Lance Corporal stared out silently for a while, then he said, "We're waiting on some specialist to retrieve the ship's nav data. I know you're getting tense, but keep doing what you're doing. Then hopefully we'll pack up and move out. I don't like being here anymore than you."

Andreas nodded his head in agreement. He considered himself lucky to have a smart and no-nonsense team leader who knew how to do his job. In fact, the majority of Alpha Company was highly competent, and he was proud to be a part of them.

"I'm gonna check on Gonzalez," Gordon said after another pause. He slid away and moved to the Marine's position and assessed him and his field of fire.

Then a Pelican flew overhead, coming in low and setting a rush of air and jetwash against the flames it passed over. It quickly decelerated and hovered over the wreckage, but from where Andreas was he couldn't see it. As soon as it was above them, the squad leader's radio quietly chattered. He whispered something to Gordon, and Gordon passed it on to his fireteam.

"Keep your eyes open," he said. And as soon as he finished speaking, a bolt of plasma slammed into the hull beside him.

The stretch of buildings across the highway began to light up with flashes of green and blue. A heavy barrage of plasma fire hammered at the Marine positions. Upon their left and right, 1st and 3rd platoon returned fire heatedly. 2nd, taking the heaviest volume of fire within the ship, returned fire as best they could, but the majority of their fireteams were pinned down by the Covenant's heavily focused fire and the support provided by hastily erected plasma turrets.

Andreas hefted the M41 onto his shoulder. Checking quickly to see that his back blast was clear, he loosed a rocket into the distant structures. It shot out of the launcher with a hollow pop. The round hit the corner of a building where plasma fire had been coming out of a second story window. A boom reported the explosion as Andreas observed an orange and grey ball of heat rise into the air. Many more streams of fire and smoke propelled toward the enemy, followed by similar explosions. All the while, the machine guns and support-by-fire platoons kept up a steady stream of suppressing fire.

The firefight kept on for the next minute, several Marines were killed or wounded, but they couldn't determine the amount of damage they were inflicting upon the Covenant soldiers. Both sides exchanged even and heavy amounts of fire across the deserted freeway. Gonzalez had been shot in the head from a carbine. Gordon checked his vitals briefly, but he knew better than to expect the Marine to have survived such a fatal shot. He quickly grabbed the fallen man's ammo and distributed it to the rest of the fireteam. By now, Vang had given up his pack to Andreas so that he could reload the M41.

The Pelican that was hovering overhead had been shot down as soon as it moved in to the crash site. Three lightly armored ONI Recon operatives managed to leap out of the downed bird as soon as it began to spin wildly out of control. The demise of the pelican was brought on by a flight of three phantoms which now hovered over the crash site and the ONI agents. The three quickly descended into the corvette's wreckage, making their way to the bridge and linking up with the CO.

Andreas heard the squad leader's radio above the chaos of the firefight. "Break, break, break! Immortal Actual, this is Immortal Recon, you have Covenant soldiers landing atop the ship, break. Phantoms are holding station and engaging Immortal elements. We're engaging – doing the best we can, over."

"Recon, Actual copies all. Immortal 2, move to engage boarders."

"Immortal 2 copies." The squad leaders began to run back and forth between their teams, telling them to pick up and be ready for a close quarters fight. The battle continued to rage outside, but already, Andreas could hear gunfire on the above decks as the machine gun teams battled the Covenant soldiers. Third squad was the closest to the upper deck, and they were the first to engage the ambushers. Andreas' squad, first, moved their way towards the aft of the half-ship and found a way upwards. They linked up with a detachment from 3rd platoon coming out of the nearby ruins to help.

The upper deck was a mess of gunfire and bodies. Third had suffered near-total casualties, and Andreas' squad leader could find none of them still around to continue the attack. Second had begun to engage the enemy elsewhere as well, and their lieutenant, Immortal 2, was with them. As they moved up the deck, a plasma grenade erupted behind them, taking out a Marine from 3rd platoon. A Zealot-class Elite emerged from behind a damaged door and began wildly attacking Marines with an energy sword. Two more Marines were cut down before the combined fire of both squads brought the single attacking Elite down.

Soon, they began to take heavy fire from down the hall. Marines dropped down either to the ground or behind wreckage and began yelling, "Contact!" Three shots from a needler hit the squad leader directly in the chest. He fell to the ground gasping while his squad returned fire and attempted to retrieve him, but the needles shattered and burst, sending a red mist exploding from his chest before he died. Down the hall, Grunts and Jackals kept on the pressure, but the Marines fearlessly advanced into the enemy, MA5s firing all the way.

They moved from room to hallway to chamber to hanger, clearing out Covenant and helping whatever other Marines from 2nd platoon they could find. Corporal Kawakura had taken charge after Immortal 2-1's death, but when he led the squad around a corner and opened fire on an Elite, he was struck multiple times by the Elite's plasma rifle. Mortally wounded, he kept firing until they had cleared that hall, and then he eventually died despite what medical care the squad could give him. Gordon was then in charge, and he pushed everyone on in the vicious close quarters fighting. By the end of it, second squad, Immortal 2-2, was combat ineffective after having lost more than half of their men. Their own squad, first, had taken losses as well. Their squad leader and senior team leader were KIA along with two other Marines in the squad, and more than half of the survivors were wounded in some way or another. Of the detachment from 3rd platoon, only three still remained with them.

Andreas heard the radio buzz to life again. It was Cpt Ragland. "2-1, this is Actual."

Gordon pressed the talk button and replied, "Go ahead Actual," just as Andreas unshouldered his M41 and moved to the opening of the hanger they had holed up in. Outside, the firefight continued on, although the high volume of fire had died down to more concentrated bursts and potshots. The Phantoms overhead kept an aggressive watch over the downed corvette like wild animals having cornered their prey.

"2-1, move to the bridge. We have three guests need an escort off the ship, how copy over?" Andreas brought his M41 up, sighted a phantom, and fired off a rocket. It struck directly beneath the transport and exploded within the troop bay. Shaking about, the Phantom pulled up and flew unsteadily to safety. The others circled around and began to rain plasma down upon Andreas' position. He let loose a second rocket and caught another Phantom in the nose, severely damaging it and destroying its turret, but the frontal armor kept the alien craft airborne and still dangerous. Andreas took cover before he could be hit.

Gordon had flinched in surprise when Andreas first fired the rocket launcher, but he composed himself and keyed his mic again, "Good copy Actual, 2-1 is moving to the bridge to provide escort, over."

"Actual, out."

The team leader waved his non-firing hand into the air and motioned towards the general direction of the bridge. "2-1, let's go." The rest of the Marines they had picked up along the way carried on, moving to pick off any stragglers from the attack. 2-1 at that point consisted of Andreas, Vang, Gordon in Bravo fireteam, and five other Marines that made up the squad's Alpha and Charlie fireteams.

When the Marines reached the bridge, the three ONI personnel met them and were ready to go. Andreas couldn't help but feel intimidated and a little spooked in their presence. They wore black uniforms and ODST chest plates but with no shoulder pauldrons, and their faces were obscured behind high-tech Recon helmets. One of them shoved a small hard case into a pack on his back and readied his suppressed M7. The other two were ready to go, and a rather lean, tall one approached LCpl Gordon and said with a distinctly received pronunciation and a woman's voice, "That man with the pack, he needs to get it out of here. Got that Lance Corporal?"

Gordon nodded, the least bit unfazed with having to interact with ONI. He said, "Got it ma'am. Where's your LZ?"

"We're going to break out from the cover of this corvette and push 300 meters west," she replied.

"That's no good ma'am, we'll be exposed the whole way. Frankly, we can take out the Phantoms with the rest of our M41s and have the Pelican pick you up on top of the corvette."

"No. That was the primary LZ; it's too hot. We're headed for the secondary one." Before he could protest anymore, she added, "I didn't ask for your opinion Lance Corporal. You just need to do your job and get us to where we're going, got that?"

"Roger," he grumbled, "We're ready to move out when you are."

After reloading on ammo and explosives, Andreas followed Vang and Gordon out. The three ONI agents fell in behind them and the rest of the squad picked up the rear. They left through a massive tear in the ship's hull and maneuvered their way through the rubble of the heavily damaged apartment complex. MA5s chattered in the distance around them, coming from the far side of the ship. Sniper teams should've been on the rooftops to support them, but the phantoms had either picked them off or drove them into the buildings.

As soon as they stepped out from the shadow of the ruins, a Phantom swooped in and hovered over them. A grunt swiveled a side-mounted plasma turret in their direction and opened fire, loosing a torrent of white hot plasma in their direction. While the Marines took cover, Gordon yelled to Andreas, "Take that bastard out!"

Andreas complied. He took a knee, popped out from cover, and with a whoosh, he sent a rocket flying straight into the Phantom's troop bay. It struggled in the air for a moment, then PFC Andreas fired another rocket which struck the side of its nose. The Phantom lost control and altitude, crashing into the side of a building and sending a rain of metal and colorful fire to the ground below.

"Ooh-rah! Nice shot man!" Vang screamed.

"Pick up. Let's move," Gordon ordered.

As they advanced down a wide alley between two apartments, Vang began to push ahead of the squad. He sprinted to a side corridor and cleared it, scanning it for a brief second before pushing forward. Continuing down the avenue, one of the ONI operatives announced, "150 meters to extraction!" And as PFC Vang pushed forward, a beam of purple energy suddenly pierced him through the chest, having been fired from a building to their 11 o'clock.

"Sniper!" the Marines yelled as they took to cover. Another beam fired into their midst, taking out the ONI agent who had counted the distance to the LZ. Everyone scattered, ducking into doorways and behind pillars. Andreas and Gordon rushed forward to a truck and took cover behind its vehicle bed. The sniper continued a stream of light harassing fire, while several meters directly ahead, a line of Jackals advanced with shields abreast and plasma pistols firing.

"Stay down," Gordon told him, "I need to get a grenade into them." He took a frag grenade from his pouch and primed it, but the second he peeked out to throw it, a barrage of plasma peppered his position. He cursed, then ducking, he tossed the grenade out blindly. The ensuing explosion was followed by several inhuman screams, those of which sounded like the dying screeches of a vicious creature. The plasma fire, however, kept coming, and the sniper kept up his harassment.

Andreas motioned to Vang, whose limp form lay out in the open. The pack of rockets was still on his back. They could have been damaged by the beam rifle, but they could have still been intact. Gordon nodded; it was worth a try. Taking out another grenade, the LCpl tossed it out blindly. It went off, taking out a few more Jackals. Andreas then rushed from cover, using the small amount of dust that had been kicked up as cover. He grabbed the dead Marine's body and dragged him behind the truck, opening the pack and reloading his M41.

Two Marines from 2-1 had cleared their way onto the fourth floor of an adjoining building and now had eyes on the sniper. They fired at the Jackal's position from their window while Andreas readied his launcher. The sniper fired back taking off the arm of one of the Marines and causing the other to duck out of sight. At that point, Andreas had already sighted the Jackal in his M41's scope. He fired quickly, and the rocket blew out the entire section of the wall it struck. A small shockwave washed over them from the explosion. The sniper fire ceased, and the Marines picked up and advanced.

Gordon shouted, "I need a frag out front."

"Gotcha!" another Lance Corporal replied, priming and tossing the grenade into the midst of attacking Jackals. The Marines braced for another explosion as the Jackals were cut to bits by the shrapnel and force of the explosion.

The two remaining ONI agents at the rear, as well as two Marines that were defending them, soon came under fire from the 6 o'clock. The tall, female agent called Andreas' team leader over the radio. "Covenant lance at our six. We need to move forward now," she said. Her voice was controlled and professional, but Andreas could pick up a hint of urgency.

Gordon keyed his radio, "Move up. We're clear up here." The four personnel at the rear broke contact in tandem, bounding backwards towards Gordon and Andreas and alternatively laying down suppression. Several bolts of plasma flew at them, but the rate of fire was too slow to overcome their retreat. As soon as they made it to the rest of the squad, everyone began to push forward.

The other Lance Corporal, one of the escorting Marines, and the two Marines in the building stayed back, guarding the rear and tending to the wounded man. Andreas, Gordon, the two ONI operatives and another Marine from their squad accompanied them. Several Banshees flew over head and attempted a gun run on them, but the tall apartment buildings prevented the air attack from having any serious effect.

When they reached a small clearing with only a few two-story buildings around them for cover the female agent stopped. "Hold here. This is the LZ," she said, getting on her helmet comm and calling in a Pelican, "Hotel 2-0-5, this is Shadow 1, we're in position at LZ Bravo. Waiting for pick up, over." She was silent as the Pelican pilot responded to her on her comm, "Roger, possible enemy activity at pick up site, over." Another moment of silence; the rest of the group pulled security, staying as alert to their surroundings as possible. Towards the downed corvette, the battle continued with both sides still locked in a grueling stalemate. She spoke up again, "We don't have time for that. Our package is high priority so get your ass down here pilot!" Another moment passed and the pelican could be heard descending from above.

It landed over some raised terrain ahead of them and the ramp dropped. The crew chief reached out to the other ONI agent who carried the package. As soon as he stepped aboard, movement in a nearby building caught Andreas' eye. Before anyone could act, a fuel rod streaked across the clearing and exploded against the pelican's left engine. Another fuel rod hit it in the exact same spot. Andreas opened fire with his MA5, the rounds picking apart the window the Covenant had been firing from.

For Hotel 205, the damage had already been done. It quickly lost thrust and sunk to the ground. The ONI agent and the crew chief both tumbled out of the back. Andreas kept up his fire, but as he hit his mark he saw energy shields flicker in the dark of the window sill. Moving to cover, he began to reload while Gordon picked up his sector of fire. The Elite brandished the fuel rod gun high and fired again, this time into the cockpit of the Pelican, vaporizing the two pilots as they struggled to unclip themselves and exit the vehicle. Soon, the building to the front end of the Pelican began to rain plasma upon the LZ.

The agent known as Shadow 1 cursed as she rushed to her reeling partner and kneeled beside him. They and the crew chief returned fire. The three Marines maneuvered to the left and got on line. Andreas took a knee behind a tree and ducked as a fuel rod sailed above his head, exploding against the building a ways behind him. He raised his M41 and fired his last rocket into the enemy position. The barrage of enemy fire quickly decreased, and Gordon and his other squadmate bounded forward and pressed the assault.

As the two Marines advanced, a red Elite leapt down from the second floor of the structure beside them. It fired a long burst of fire into the back of Gordon's companion, killing him instantly. Andreas rose up and watched as Gordon grabbed at the Elite's plasma rifle, but it simply raised a leg and kicked him several feet away. Andreas brought up his MA5 and rushed the Elite, firing wildly. He drained its shielding by the time he closed the distance, but at such close range, the Elite knocked away the PFC's assault rifle with ease. Clenching his fist, Andreas punched the Elite dead on in the jaw, sending it stumbling. The large Marine and the Elite then wrestled briefly, before the alien warrior kneed Andreas in the chest and, picking him up by the neck, tossed him down onto his back. Before it could continue its work however, automatic weapons fire ripped apart its armor and flesh, eliciting an inhuman scream and sending its bloody and limp body falling backwards onto the ground.

Shadow 1 stood over Andreas and helped him up. Gordon picked up his assault rifle and moved over to them. She said, "This situation's just gone to hell. Command won't risk another Pelican. Lance Corporal, you can take your Marines and fall back to Alpha Company now."

"What the hell are you gonna do now ma'am?" Gordon asked.

"I've got my mission to do," she glanced out towards the space port, far in the distance beside downtown, "My teammate and I are going to get there one way or another." She walked briskly over to her waiting companion, who rose up from a knee and made ready to move out. With a nod to the Marines as they passed, the two ONI operatives hurried off down the hill, heading towards the denser parts of Victory City where the fighting was heavier.

Andreas looked around and assessed the condition of their fallen comrade. He looked at Gordon and shook his head, taking the man's tags and ammo. LCpl Gordon helped the shaken crew chief to his feet, and they headed back to link up with the rest of their squad and Company.


	6. Colonel Thomas Baker 2

_Col Baker, T. Day 1, 1500 Hrs_

The UNSC battle net was crackling with the sounds of combat chatter as dozens of comm channels reported the activities of hostile and friendly forces. Marines and Navy technicians rushed back and forth throughout the tactical operations center, delivering data to superiors and coordinating troops over the radios. Colonel Baker was having an urgent conversation with his battle captain, Captain Stein, a tall, young Marine officer whose responsibility it was to manage the TOC and deliver orders and information to the units in the field.

"My Marines are spread too thin up in those hills. I want Bravo and Charlie to pull back to defensive positions around the firebase. Alpha will have to maintain position until General Vaughn reinforces the crash site; until then, we'll reroute a few resupply birds to their location. I want Delta providing support for the Marines at the star port. Have they started evac-ing the civilians yet?"

The Captain entered information into a data pad, replying, "No sir. Covenant control the skies. They're still trying to re-establish air dominance."

Colonel Baker cursed. "Tell Delta to move their M12 Romeo's to assist them."

"Sir wouldn't that leave us open to the banshees?"

"We'll rely on our Scythes on the rooftops."

"Yes sir," Stein said, entering more data into the battle net. The information would then pass onto the terminals of the communications and signal personnel, who would relay the orders to the various units.

Colonel Baker walked over to where Sergeant Major Bruner was overseeing a group of Marines updating a holographic battle map of the valley. Friendly forces were displayed as blue points on the map, with known enemy positions displayed as red. The actual battle lines were ambiguous, as the Covenant had attacked from all directions. A CCS battlecruiser maintained position over the sea to the west, where flights of Phantoms and Spirits unloaded Brute lances upon a portion of the city built over a small island just off the shore. To the north, Baker's tank detachment, Echo Company, was assisting the 27th Marines' armor units in holding MSR (main supply route) Ceasar, the main interstate cutting through the pass leading north. The infantry companies of the 58th MEU were in the hills north of downtown, fighting viciously against Covenant forces landing by air. To the east, the 27th Marines were being scattered throughout the city by aggressive Elite shock troopers and their lances. The 27th had maintained positions both at the star port, and at Firebase White, just outside the industrial district to the southeast.

Bruner looked up as Baker approached, delivering his report and take on the situation. "Covenant have us spread thin Colonel. Diverting our hogs away might make them ballsy enough to try to take out our AA guns up there."

Col Baker nodded and said, "I know. You're gonna have to get H&amp;S Company to put twice as many Marines on security."

"I have every bit of confidence they can do it sir, but H&amp;S Company is already spread thin and lacking in manpower. We'll have to pull them from the motor pool and the supply depot."

"Right Sergeant Major, but we need to guard those guns. When Bravo and Charlie Company arrive, they can pull security while we send the support troops back to their stations."

"I'll coordinate and let them know sir. The Covenant don't stand a chance against this battalion." Bruner headed off to talk to another officer present in the TOC, relaying the orders to him. When the officer, a gold bar lieutenant, tried to protest against his Marines being used for combat, the Sergeant Major scolded him. "Get it together son! We're all in combat. Your Marines know how to hold rifles, so they can suck it up and pull security."

Baker made his way back to Captain Stein, who was hovering over the many terminals aligned beside one another in the TOC. Stein would receive reports from the technicians operating the terminals, and then he would relay it back to Colonel Baker. The Colonel would issue out his response, and Stein would relay it back to the appropriate unit handler. As the battlefield shifted, SgtMaj Bruner's Marines would monitor the holographic table and readjust any data that wasn't already being adjusted by SIGINT feeds.

A loud report came in from Echo Company, "Warlord, this is Blue Knight. We are engaged! Standby for spot report, over!" The sound of shells being loaded and fired from a tank was heard as the transmission ended.

A female Naval technician handling one of the terminals responded, "Blue Knight, Warlord. Ready for spot report, over."

The voice came back onto the radio, speaking faster and more urgently. "We are currently being attacked by a Covenant armor division along MSR Ceasar about 1 klick north of the city limit – roughly 6-0 enemy tanks, break. They're trying to overwhelm our position and break through our lines, how copy over?"

The woman shifted in her seat with nervousness. She then cleared her throat and responded, "Good copy on your spot report Blue Knight. Covenant division of 6-0 tanks currently attacking MSR Ceasar 1 klick from Victory City. Standby for orders, over."

When Blue Knight responded, the sounds of engines and cannon fire above the static were even more prevalent. "Roger. We're requesting reinforcements immediately, over!"

Captain Stein, who had been paying considerable attention to the report, looked up at Colonel Baker. He said, "Sir, Echo Company and the 27th armor detachment are outnumbered. Should we pull them back into defensive positions around the city gate?"

The Colonel assessed his options. The pass to the north had to be held, but he knew the UNSC tanks were greatly outnumbered. If they were unable to be reinforced, many would be cut down while breaking off from their current defensive positions. After a short moment, he said, "Can Delta reinforce?"

"They're spread thin throughout downtown sir. Their Warthogs might not make it in time, and if they did, I don't think they have enough firepower to put a dent in that division."

Col Baker cursed aloud. Then, reluctantly, he ordered, "Have Echo Company pull back to the city gate and regroup their defenses there. I want all available air assets to move in and provide them close air support."

"Roger sir, we'll call it in," Stein said as he turned to the Naval technician to relay his orders.

She nodded and said, "Yes sir," then got on the radio and said, "Blue Knight, this is Warlord."

There was a pause – silence from the other end of the radio. And then, "Roger Warlord, this is Blue Knight."

"Blue Knight, break contact and regroup at secondary defensive position. Prepare to copy grid, over."

"Standing by to copy, over."

"Grid as follows: Oscar Tango 3-5-4-6 2-2-8-9, over."

"I copy Oscar Tango 3-5-4-6 2-2-8-9, how copy over?"

"Good copy Blue Knight. CAS is inbound to support your movement, Warlord, out."

Stein then moved over to another terminal and spoke to another technician there. He said, "I want all available air assets to cover Echo Company to the north. There is a Covenant armor division attacking along MSR Ceasar and they need to provide CAS for friendly forces in that AO. I'll send you the relevant data."

The man nodded, and after waiting for the data to upload to his kiosk, said, "Got it sir. I'm sending out the call now." He then began transmitting to UNSC air units operating in the vicinity.

The first unit to respond was a flight of Sparrowhawks. Their commander spoke over the radio, "This is Talon 1. We are on station. ETA to coordinates: two mikes. How copy over?"

Colonel Baker turned his attention elsewhere. He had every bit of confidence in his Marines as a good commander should, but he knew they were fighting a war of attrition, and in that respect, the Covenant held them at a clear disadvantage. All they could do was continue to beat back the enemy assault and give the civilian transports as much time as possible to escape.


	7. Sergeant Paul Winston 1

_Sgt Winston, P. Day 1, 1600 Hrs_

The Marines of Wildcat Company stationed at the city gate along MSR Ceasar were mostly supply and mechanic sections. The rest of the company reported to the 2nd Battalion, 30th Marine Regiment, 27th Marine Division as a support company. Their orders were to provide repairs and resupply to the division's armor detachment one klick to the north. They would drive ammunition and fuel out to the tanks in trucks and transport Warthogs. Occasionally, damaged Scorpions would pull back to their hastily erected repair and refit stations, where the mechanics would quickly set about undoing battle damage.

Sergeant Paul Winston was a section leader in charge of supply distribution and requisition. His squad of Marines was in charge of outfitting the truck drivers with ammo and providing spare parts for the armor mechanics. Most of their work was spent working inside a large, crudely constructed tent surrounded by sand bags on all sides, forming a makeshift warehouse. They crouched behind radios to request additional requisitions and helped other squads locate items and provided whatever resources were needed of them.

As the battle raged within the valley, sparse Covenant activity had been seen in the pass aside from minor patrols and probing attacks. Wildcat Company had not been under fire at all, as the tanks of the 27th and the 1/15th eliminated the enemy forces before they got a chance to get close. Winston had been assured that he would see no combat because of this, but when the report of an encroaching Covenant armor division came through, he became increasingly worried. Like many in his unit, he had been drafted from the Inner Colonies, and while he truly desired the defeat of the Covenant, he had no desire to participate in the actual fighting, knowing full well that the majority of battles resulted in massive UNSC casualties. For all of his years in service, he had managed to remain in the rear with the supply section. He had never seen combat and wanted to keep it that way, unlike a number of the younger Marines in his company. He was simply a man who wished to make it back home.

Heading outside the large supply tent, he walked over to a group of Marines huddled around the hood of a fully loaded transport Warthog. They were briefing themselves on enemy movements and current UNSC positions, planning a route for their Warthogs during the next resupply run. After taking a minute to wrap up, the Marines broke off and headed to their individual vehicles. Winston walked over to a Sergeant who remained at the Warthog.

"Moses, headed out again?" Winston asked. They clasped hands as they met.

The man, Sergeant Moses Dibaggio, responded, "Yeah Winston. Looks like this time we'll be under heavy fire. It's getting wild up there man."

"A whole other division. Anyone told you anything about us pulling out?"

"No man. No word has come down from higher. I think they're going to reinforce us instead. Gotta hold the pass."

"I just ain't trying to have my Marines stay around if those Wraiths show up."

"Yeah. We'll hold the line if we have to, but we'd be better off fixing and resupplying from a secure place." Sgt Dibaggio eyed his watch and turned to enter his Warthog, saying, "I have to roll man. Good luck to ya."

Winston pounded the hood of the vehicle in a friendly manner, "Good luck to you too brother." And the column of Warthogs rolled out of the supply station and onto the MSR, heading north towards the ever encroaching sounds of battle.

As Winston headed back towards his makeshift supply warehouse, a female Marine came out from the flaps and approached him. The nameplate on her M52B body armor read _Everston_. She spoke, "Sergeant, we're running low on 90 mil shells. Do you want me to make a request to HQ?"

"You don't have to Corporal, I'll do it," Winston responded, walking past her.

Cpl Everston followed along, saying, "Yes Sergeant. What do you want us to do in the meantime?"

Winston shrugged. "Organize our supplies," he said, before suddenly turning to her and adding, "Ammo first. We have reason to believe the fighting's getting real worse up there, so be ready to distribute ammunition."

"Roger Sergeant." She turned and headed off to round up the other Marines in the squad.

Winston entered a corner of the tent draped over in ponchos, creating a sort of makeshift room. In it, several radios buzzed with chatter. An officer, Lt Hardy, and another Marine, LCpl West, occupied the room.

Hardy greeted Winston as soon as he came in. "Sergeant. The situation's getting pretty bad out there, but they're sending in CAS to support the armor. What do you need?"

"Hello sir. Cpl Everston informed me that we need a resupply on 90 mil tungsten. I'm about to knock that out real quick."

Lt Hardy gestured towards the radios. "Be my guest Sergeant. Do your job."

LCpl West, who was sitting and monitoring company radio traffic, looked up at Winston. He asked, "Sergeant, we really about to see Covie up close?"

"We might. But I hope not Marine."

"Sergeant, I hope so. I'm about to take down some mike foxtrot." West was a Marine who loved to talk big. Normally, Marines were not allowed to be as vocal to NCO's and officers as much as Winston allowed him to be. But the Sergeant didn't mind vocally jousting with the younger Marine from time to time.

"You say that now. It won't be so easy when the real time comes."

"I'll just keep my finger squeezed around the trigger. Hose them all down with the M7."

Before Sgt Winston could answer, Lt Hardy cut them off. "Lance Corporal, the Sergeant has a supply request to send up. Cut the chatter."

As Winston contacted the HQ for a supply run, a simultaneous report detailed the status of Wildcat 1-3, Sgt Dibaggio's unit. A frantic voice yelled over the radio as plasma mortars exploded in the background. The lieutenant got on the radio and responded to the unit.

The voice on the other end was Sgt Dibaggio, "Wildcat 1, we are conducting resupply but are taking heavy fire from advancing Wraiths. We need to pull back immediately!"

Lt Hardy said into the radio, "Negative 1-3. Continue with resupply. Leave all downed vehicles behind and double time it to your objectives, over."

There was a pause. Sgt Winston stopped mid report and waited for Dibaggio's response. The voice on 1-3's end said, "We are taking too many casualties out here. Will continue with mission, but we are combat ineffective, over."

Lt Hardy threw his hands up in frustration, "Understood 1-3. We need to keep those Scorpions firing. Continue mission, over."

"Wildcat 1-3, out!" Sgt Dibaggio replied swiftly.

Winston finished up his supply request and monitored the radios, eventually picking up transmissions from CAS units flying overhead. He kept one of the radios dialed into their frequency.

A deep, male voice sounded over their comms. He said, "Talon flight, this is Talon 1. MSR Ceasar is a free-fire zone. Engage all hostile ground, over."

"Talon 2, roger that," A woman's voice responded.

"Talon 3, roger."

"Talon 4 copies."

When Winston got up and left the tent, he heard engines burning overhead. Peeking out from the tent flaps, he saw Talon flight cutting through the sky above Wildcat Company. Marines on the ground cheered as the Sparrowhawks headed off into battle. Across the highway, the armor mechanics leapt atop their tanks and tossed their caps into the air. Two of Winston's Marines, PFC Avedo and PFC Brayson had been smoking outside. They let out a woop at the air and tossed their finished cigarettes up.

Winston noticed they weren't carrying their weapons, so he yelled at them, "Hey PFC's! We might get hit anytime now. I sure as hell don't want you two with me in a firefight if you ain't even gonna bring your own damn weapons."

They rushed off amidst threats of eating the dirt and crawling through mud. Several more air units passed by overhead. Winston could see flashes from explosions not too far away, as well as that, he could also see the rise and fall of dozens of plasma mortars crashing upon their targets. The rest of the pass was covered in smoke and haze from the intense battle raging northward. He had expected Sgt Dibaggio's column to have returned already. However, no Warthogs re-emerged. Shaking his head, he turned around and went back into the tent.

Inside, his Marines were consolidating ammo crates into separate piles. Corporal Everston had left to inform the other Marines in the supply base that they were distributing ammo to those who needed it. Lance Corporal Tombo Anwa was overseeing the working party. Avedo and Brayson were moving crates of rockets together, and West was loading magazines of different sorts into different piles. PFC Rita Dubois, a rather shy and quiet Marine, was helping another Marine, PFC Conkle, open up ammo crates for West. Winston took no time hesitating, and immediately joined them at their work.

By the time they had finished and organized everything, several Marines from the other sections were already filing in by squads and teams to pick up extra ammo for themselves. As they walked through and grabbed their rounds and grenades, Winston could see the trepidation and seriousness over their faces. He too shared their anxiety. A small supply base wouldn't be able to hold out against an entire Covenant armor division. Hopefully, he thought, another company from division would be sent up to reinforce them.

As they handed out the majority of the ammo, Winston turned to Lt Hardy. He asked, "Sir, you know who's on their way to reinforce our position?"

"No Sergeant. But division knows we're in heavy contact so they'll be sending somebody. I'm gonna get back on the radio and see what exactly is going on. Take the Marines outside and load the truck with the rest of the ammo."

"Roger sir," and then he called out to the squad, "Let's go Marines. Get the rest of this stuff outside and onto the truck." They went out to a supply truck and began loading it down with supplies and ammo. The battle had grown more chaotic in the distance, and it wasn't as far away now.

As they set about their work on the truck, Winston stepped aside and looked out to the highway. Speeding out of the distant battle along the MSR came two Scorpion tanks. The first one was smoking, with fire burning from several damaged points along its hull. It rolled on by without even so much as making an attempt to stop at the repair station. The second Scorpion was in better condition. It had its turret turned around to face the rear, where the battle was. As it rolled by it screeched to a sudden halt. The hatch opened and a Marine popped his head out, looking around the supply base in surprise and then finally noticing Winston.

The tanker yelled out, "Marine! What the hell is everyone doing?"

Winston was confused. "What do you mean driver?" he asked.

The Scorpion driver looked at him as if he were stupid. Then he responded, "What do you mean what do I mean? The MSR is fubar! Covenant are gonna be right on top of this position any minute now!"

By now, the other Marines working at their stations had all stopped and were watching as the tank driver yelled into their midst. Winston asked, "What about the armor detachment? What happened to them?"

The driver shook his head in disbelief. He pointed to where the other Scorpion had gone and then back at his own vehicle. "We're it," he said, and then he began to close his hatch, "You all need to beat feet and get the hell out of here. Head for the gate and hold up there. I'll turn around and buy you some time." He disappeared under the metal of his hatch, and soon the Scorpion executed a full 180 degree turn, its turret continuing to face the enemy.

Just as the Scorpion got into position along the highway, the Marines of Wildcat Company saw flashes of light emerge in the distance. Dozens of brilliant blue streaks of plasma soared high into the sky, turning sharply at the apex of their climb and soon swiftly falling downwards – on top of them. In a panicked frenzy, the Marines scrambled for cover, yelling "Incoming!" and ducking down onto the ground or behind whatever they thought would protect them.

Winston rushed for the truck, but the impact of a nearby plasma shell sent him sprawling face first into the dirt. Rolling around onto his back, he watched as the mortars impacted around them. The building and lot being used for the repair station was hit by dozens of shells. Marines caught out in the open were either vaporized by falling plasma or, at best, they were blown wildly through the air, landing upon the ground covered in burns and wounds. A plasma mortar landed directly on top of the supply tent, setting off massive secondary explosions. Had Winston not been on the verge of passing out, he would've remembered that Lt Hardy was still in the tent at the time of the explosion. But all he could think of was the powerful display of fire and explosives taking place before his eyes. Then his vision became dark, and he passed out.

He awoke to the feeling of hands grasping his armor, wrapping beneath his arms and dragging him slowly across the grass. Through hazy eyes, he saw burning wreckages of several Wraiths and the lone Scorpion that sat amongst them. Its turret had been completely smashed inward, the metal heated and twisted cruelly in on the rest of the tank. The canopy was crushed, and nothing save for flames emerged from the driver's seat beneath it. The smell of gunpowder and smoke stung the air and reached heavily into Winston's nose.

The person dragging him placed him behind the ammo truck and laid him down. Several Marines huddled tightly together, holding various weapons at the high ready as they pulled security around one another. Lance Corporal Anwa stooped over Sgt Winston, assessing his vitals and awareness. Someone hissed something, and the Marines ducked behind the truck, making themselves as small and hidden as possible. Three Wraiths rolled by, escorted by several Ghosts. They barreled down the road to where the main gate to the city was.

Winston, feeling better now, sat up and surveyed the area around him. The supply tent was nothing more than an ever expanding ball of flame and smoke. Off in the distance, the reverberating fire of Covenant AA Wraiths boomed throughout the pass. Trails of green plasma shot furiously into the air, combusting wildly across the sky as they climbed to their limit. The UNSC air support was being wiped out.

Cpl Everston kneeled beside Winston. She asked, "Sergeant? Tombo is he alright?"

Tombo replied, his accent thick and deep, "He's not badly wounded Corporal, but he should still see a corpsman no less."

Winston shook his head and focused his thoughts, "I'll be fine Marines. What happened? Who's in charge now?"

Everston said, "You are Sergeant…as far as we can tell. Lieutenant's gone." Her voice betrayed its usual calmness and professionalism for a short moment as she trembled to bring out her last statement.

Winston, grieved by the confirmation, nodded. Although panicked, he forced himself to look around and ask, "Who's still with us?"

The Corporal named off the present Marines, pointing to them as she spoke their names, "Tombo, me, Conkle, Dubois, Avedo, Brayson, and West."

"Okay," Sgt Winston said, standing up and reaching for an MA5, "Let's get our weapons, mount up, and get the hell back to the city gate."

Tombo spoke up, "Sergeant. Wraiths have been rushing through our position for the past ten minutes. We're surrounded."

Winston assessed his options. If they travelled by foot, they might be able to lay low and hope that the Covenant patrols didn't notice them. But if they were to be spotted, they'd be gunned down without a fighting chance. If they took the truck, they'd be noticed by everyone, but there was the chance that they could outrun the Wraiths. Plus, the truck had enough ordinance in it to take on any assortment of Ghosts and Wraiths that might pursue them. He decided that if they were to be noticed, they should at least have a fighting chance. "We'll take the truck. Everyone get in," he said.

Tombo looked as if he were about to question Winston's decision, but his expression quickly changed from one of doubt to stoic compliance. He nodded and hopped into the back of the truck, grabbing an M41 rocket launcher as he settled into the cargo bed.

Everston stood up and loudly whispered to the Marines around them, "Marines, on your feet and get aboard the truck. We're getting out of here." They obeyed and quickly climbed aboard, with only LCpl West seeming to show discontent with the decision.

Winston climbed into the driver's cab and Everston got in beside him. One of the Marines in the back rapped twice on the cab through the metal. They started the truck and took stock of their surroundings, keeping a sharp eye out for approaching Wraiths. As they began to pull out of the former supply base, the vehicle's radio came to life.

A female voice sounded off on the other side. She said, "Any friendly station within grid Oscar Tango 3-5 2-2, this is Talon 2, respond. Over." They were silent as they coasted along quietly, but they kept their eyes up for any sign of the transmitting unit. She came on the radio again, saying, "Any UNSC elements along MSR Ceasar, this is Talon 2, respond. Over!"

Everston and Winston both looked at one another before the Sergeant decided to grab the mic. "Talon 2, this is Wildcat 1-1. We are headed fast down MSR Ceasar, going south. Are you available to cover? Over."

For a moment, the radio was silent, and the Marines drove along the road, passing wreckages, bodies, and patches of scorched earth. Talon 2 responded, "Roger Wildcat 1-1. We're right above you and I've got eyes on you. Be advised, Covenant armor on the road ahead. You might want to slow down and let us take 'em out, how copy over?"

Winston eased up on the gas and pressed the brake slightly. "I would be happy to oblige you Talon 2." Both he and Everston watched as a lone Sparrowhawk sped ahead of them. Two missiles were loosed from its wing pylons, detonating audibly on the far side of a rise. Streams of smoke erupted from two rocket pods attached to the aircraft's wings, undoubtedly wreaking great devastation amongst the Covenant ranks. The rocket barrage was followed by several rippling bursts from the Sparrowhawk's chin-mounted minigun.

Talon 2's friendly but focused voice came over the radio again, "Your twelve is clear Wildcat 1-1. Push up," and then suddenly she said, more urgently, "1-1 you've got Covenant on your six – Ghosts and Wraiths."

Winston pressed down on the acceleration as Everston spoke to the other Marines through an intercom. She said, "Marines, watch our six for Covies!" Sure enough, a loud pop and hiss echoed forth, shaking through the back of the truck to the front. Smoke poured out of the sides of the truck bed, just as a loud explosion reported the destruction of a pursuing Ghost. "What the hell?" the corporal asked, "Is everyone alright back there?"

A rather urgent voice responded, "We're fine! Just drive so we can get the hell outta here!" It was West.

They cleared the rise, passing by the destroyed hunks of alien metal that Talon 2 had so effortlessly littered about the field. Swerving along the highway to avoid both wrecks and craters, Wildcat 1-1 neared the gate to Victory City. Unfortunately for them, Winston could see Wraiths up ahead firing upon the meager defenders placed along the wall's perimeter.

Slamming down on the gas pedal, he told Everston to "Hold on!" His truck screeched by the assaulting Covenant force, drawing small amounts of plasma fire. He twisted and swerved to the best of his abilities, trying not to overturn the truck and harm the Marines within it. Panicking from the enemy fire, he twisted the truck too closely to the side of a Covenant Wraith, and as he pulled the truck away and drove off from the enemy vehicle, it fired a plasma mortar directly at the truck's rear. The vehicle escaped the mortar, but not the blast. Losing control, Sgt Winston could only hang on as the truck flipped onto its side and slid along the ground, coming roughly to a halt just in front of Victory City's walls.

As he slowly regained composure from the shock of the crash, he looked up and saw that Everston had already climbed out of the cab. She was on top of the truck, which had been flipped onto its side. She reached and pulled at Winston, yelling, "Sergeant, we need to go." Winston unstrapped himself from the seat belt and took her hand, clutching his rifle as he climbed out. Both he and the corporal dropped to the ground behind the truck for cover.

West came stumbling out of the truck along with the other Marines. "Knew we shouldn't have taken the damn truck," he grumbled.

"Focus on getting to cover," Tombo told him. And just as he did, two Ghosts approached and began laying down heavy plasma fire on the Marines. They ducked and huddled behind the truck. Tombo managed to fire the other round in his launcher, but the rocket flew harmlessly past the Ghosts. The twin plasma guns on each Ghost continued their barrage. One of the Ghosts maneuvered toward the Marines' flank, closing in to mow them down. As soon as it came around, fire from the gate picked off the Grunt driver. More automatic weapons fire took out the second Ghost as well.

A Marine emerged from the blown-apart doors of the city gate. He motioned at them and yelled, "Hurry up and get your asses in here!"

The majority of the Marines picked up and rushed madly towards the gate without hesitation. PFC Dubois however, froze in place and refused to leave the side of the wrecked truck. Sgt Winston stopped, turned, and noticed her. Cresting a small berm several hundred meters out, a Wraith hovered into view. The turret of the alien tank began to lay down suppressive fire, as did several infantry lances that advanced alongside the tank in support. Winston rushed back to Dubois.

"Private! Get up! We'll get killed here!" He didn't really know what else to say. He only knew that he had to say something, anything to get his Marine on her feet.

"Sergeant, there's too much fire out there! We'll get killed if we go!" She shook with fear and huddled herself into a tighter ball as the Covenant advanced and their volume of fire increased.

"Marine!" he paused, searching for words, then continued, "We could be killed either way! We gotta try! So get up and move if you want to make it home again!"

Sobbing, the terrified Private First Class got to her feet. Winston asked if she was ready, and she nodded reluctantly. Then the two took off running, stumbling and crouching low as rounds passed near them and overhead, scorching and fizzing into the ground around them. The rest of their squad, standing by the gate, loosed a barrage of suppressive fire as the two Marines made it to safety. The Covenant, in response, fired a salvo of plasma mortars, driving the humans back from the main gate.

Upon the other side of friendly lines, the supply Marines took a moment to catch their breaths. PFC Dubois collapsed on the ground, shaken at their ordeals. Cpl Everston and PFC Conkle consoled her. LCpl West checked his magazines and ammo, looking eagerly at the burned-down gates. PFCs Avedo and Brayson both sat upon the grass, exhausted from the encounter, their MA5s upon the ground beside them. LCpl Anwa watched stoically as a Marine approached the group.

He was a Sergeant Major, and he approached them with a sense of purpose. All around them, smoke and burning debris littered the ground. Several government buildings being used as shelters for defending UNSC troops stood behind the walls, all heavily bombed out from the plasma barrage. The Sergeant Major roused the attention of the Marines, and he spoke roughly, coldly, "Marines! What the hell are you doing sitting around out here? Quit your crying and get your asses inside."

"Sergeant Major," Winston said, "We're part of Wildcat Company. We need to go and link up with our commanding officer. Tell him our detachment has just been wiped out."

"To hell you're gonna just run off and link up with them Sergeant! You and your Marines are going to hold the line here, with us. We can get in touch with Wildcat Actual and let him know what happened."

Sgt Winston wanted to protest, but to do so would be subverting the respect of military rank. He quietly said, "Yes Sergeant Major." and motioned for Wildcat 1-1 to follow him.

He holed his Marines up in a long, one-story office building. To their left and right were Marines dug in behind metal barricades and sandbags. M247 machine gun emplacements peeked out from amidst holes in bombed out buildings. On top of one of the buildings, a sniper trained his SRS99 on the gate entrance, watching intently for Covenant infantry. All around, rockets were being loaded and prepped.

The attack came shortly after a plasma mortar struck the top of the wall, killing a Marine manning an AIE-486 turret from inside a guard tower. Soon, more plasma mortars struck inside the gatehouse checkpoint. Marines ducked low and hugged the walls of their cover, praying the Covenant artillery wouldn't hit them. After the brief barrage, the Covenant assault began.

A Wraith ploughed through the broken gate, flanked on both sides by infantry. The sniper fired, taking the head off of a blue-armored Elite. The Wraith turned to his direction and loosed a bright blast of blue-white plasma that completely obliterated the shooter's position. Before the rubble had even settled, Jackal Skirmishers dropped down from above, having scaled the walls to enter the compound. The Marines opened fire. Machinegun fire and plasma bolts crossed over one another and slammed into the walls around their respective targets. The Skirmishers moved in, leaping from roof to roof and engaging the Marines in fierce, close-quarters fighting. Several rockets struck the Wraith at once, destroying it in a massive explosion of hot, blue fire.

By now, Covenant soldiers were pouring through the gate in force. Fire from the Marine positions dropped several of them, but it did nothing to deter their numbers. Wraiths followed the lances of alien infantry into the breach. From Winston's position, they were overlooking a wide lot which the Covenant soldiers had refrained from charging across. As the enemy armor arrived however, the Elites and their lances rushed forth, attempting to swarm the Marine positions.

Both West and Everston were the first to open fire, having taken positions beside a large hole blown into the wall. Their M7s rattled with constant bursts of fire. The rest of the squad ducked into cover as the Covenant attackers responded with fire of their own. Winston left Dubois to guard the door covering their exit, and then he took up a position next to Conkle. He and the PFC exchanged fire with the advancing Covenant, firing their weapons on semi-automatic. A Wraith moved towards them, firing a plasma mortar that soared dangerously low over the building's roof. They instinctively ducked, but Tombo returned fire with the M41, firing two rockets in quick succession. In a burst of flame, the tank collapsed loudly on the ground.

Grunts and Jackals surged forward, using the wreckage of the Wraith for cover. An Elite leapt atop the burning tank and peppered the Marine-held building with fire from a carbine. Concentrated fire from Winston's squad and another team of Marines in the building brought the reckless alien down. But as soon as it fell, a Wraith materialized from out of the smoke and maneuvered around the wreckage of the first one. This one fired at the section of the building where the other team of Marines was located. The entire building shook as the plasma round detonated loudly into the other team's position.

Tombo reloaded the M41 and brought it to his shoulders, just as the Wraith fired a shell at Avedo and Brayson's position. The two PFCs ducked out of the window and made a break for it into a nearby hallway. The ensuing explosion sent Brayson sprawling to the ground but unhurt. Tombo fired twice again. The Wraith went up in flames. This did nothing to let up the assault of the Covenant infantry, who were at that point no more than fifty meters from the Marines' position. Tombo yelled out, "We have no more rockets!"

Winston went to check up on Brayson, leaving Everston to direct the squad's fire. He knelt down by the Marine and pulled him up by the hand. He asked, "Brayson you alright? Talk to me!"

The young Marine nodded, shaking himself out of a daze caused by the Wraith, "Alright mate…Sergeant. Doin' alright."

Avedo pulled security in the hallway door, firing into the lot through the burned office they had just escaped. He lowered his MA5 and turned to Sgt Winston, "Sergeant! They took out those other Marines. We're getting overrun!"

In the other room, where the rest of the squad was, Everston watched as Skirmishers engaged the Marines on their left flank. The swift and ferocious creatures dropped down from the roof and into the midst of their barricades. One of the aliens fired dozens of needler rounds into a Marine, causing the multiple shards to burst explosively. The Marines who fought back were instantly overwhelmed, as the Elites pushing up the center joined in on the fighting as well. A lone Skirmisher stood atop the roof of a nearby building and fired a carbine at several retreating Marines, killing them as they attempted to cover each other and break contact. Everston brought her M7 up, lined it up with the Skirmisher, and fired one long, firm burst. The alien's body crumpled over and fell backwards onto the roof.

Another Wraith materialized out of the haze before them, and Winston could already hear the sound of multiple Wraiths bombarding Marine positions around them. He went to Dubois and looked outside to their rear, reminding her to watch the door. Then he hurried back into the room that his Marines defended, shouting, "Marines, on your feet! Let's get out! Let's go!" He went to each and every one as they exchanged fire with the enemy, pulling at them and yelling for them to move. As they bunched in the hallway by the exit, he said, "There's some buildings about one hundred meters across the clearing. If we all move fast enough, we can make it. We've lost and we have to get out of here now. Get ready."

LCpl West, who was covering their rear from a doorway, stopped firing to reload his M7. He shouted above the firefight at Winston, "Sergeant! We're gonna get mowed down out there! I ain't dyin' like a bitch!"

Sgt Winston had no time for anyone to disagree, so he shouted back, "Stow that talk Lance Corporal, you hear me? I need to get each and every one of us home. We have to go now or those Covenant will cut off our escape! We could get taken out either way. Marines, follow me!" And with that, he rushed out of the doorway and into the field.

The squad followed him, even West picked up. Out in the open, they rushed wildly towards the line of buildings in front. Covenant plasma fire soared above their heads and the Wraith fired at them. The first plasma mortar impacted amidst them but did no harm as they kept running. Dubois tripped from a hole in the ground, but Everston picked her up and pushed her along, the surrounding plasma fire being enough motivation for both of them to keep pace. Halfway across the field, another plasma shell came down on them, landing directly behind PFC Conkle. He let out a brief scream as his body was engulfed in blue flames; nothing of him remained when the dust settled.

Winston turned and saw the Marine die with his own eyes. His squad rushed past him. Furious, he fired off a few rounds into the pursuing Covenant. They returned fire furiously, plasma bolts zeroing in on his position. Ducking low, he moved as quickly as he could in an attempt to catch up with the rest of the Marines. Looking back one more time, he saw the Wraith explode in a flurry of flame and smoke. Up above, a lone Sparrowhawk circled the field, firing its minigun into the advancing enemy with absolute impunity.

As they reached the cover of the far buildings, the Marines stopped to take a breath. Dubois, whose only friend had been Conkle, became even more of a nervous wreck than she had been earlier. Avedo and Brayson panted wildly, while West and Tombo took up positions observing their rear and front, respectively. Everston approached Winston, asking, "Sergeant, what are we doing now?"

Winston keyed the radio built into his squad leader's helmet comm. "Talon 2, this Wildcat 1-1. Is that you providing cover for us? Over."

"Wildcat 1-1, this is Talon 2," her voice was as warm as ever, "Glad to see you guys still made it. I've got your air cover but be advised, we are on station for only twenty mikes. Over."

"Alright, we copy. We need to get to friendly forces. Have any location on the nearest Marine unit? Over."

"Doesn't look good Wildcat 1-1. You're surrounded on all sides by Covenant armor. Nearest unit is callsign Immortal. They're holed up at objective Gold Mine roughly 800 meters south of you. Can you make it to them? Over."

Sgt Winston sighed, relaying the information to his Marines. Then he touched the mic, saying, "Talon 2, we're gonna try to make it to them. Give us as much air cover as you can."

"We've got you back."

"Wildcat 1-1, out."

They picked up from their position, moving south between the buildings. They passed by rows of perfectly aligned houses, stores, and streets. Debris and abandoned vehicles littered the town around them as they moved through the alleys. Occasionally, Wraiths would hover by, boosting south towards UNSC positions. The whole time, plasma mortars filled the sky above. On one occasion they came upon a house upon a rise that was so heavily guarded by Covenant troops, Talon 2 had to swoop in low and strafe the position with rockets. As soon as she did so, two Wraiths began to open fire on the Marines.

Talon 2 opened up with her minigun, laying down as much fire as she could. Winston led his squad around the smoldering ruins, placing it between them and the Wraiths. As they continued to push forward, one of the Wraiths caught up to them. It fired a shell into a street, missing them as they rushed across. Dust and rocks showered the Marines as Winston urged them into a waiting alley. Fire from the plasma turret forced the Sergeant to duck back into the safety of the shadows. LCpl West, who had not reached them, turned around and leapt behind a burned car.

Checking to see that his M7 was low on ammo, he reloaded the submachine gun and waited for the Wraith to get closer. As soon as it was right on top of him, he rushed the tank, roaring defiantly and firing a fully automatic hail of bullets into the exposed gunner. The Elite gunner's shields flickered, but before West could empty even half of his clip, the plasma turret swiveled onto him and loosed a torrent of white-hot plasma bolts. They cut through the young Marine, tearing him apart; and his lifeless form fell to the ground as heavy as iron.

A gun run from Talon 2 ripped the tank to shreds as Sgt Winston disappeared into the alley. The Marines continued their movement south. Across the now-elevated highway to their left, a spur rose up, covered in houses and trees. At the highest point of the landform, and right before it dipped down into the valley, a small tower-like building stood overlooking the area. Even as they did their best to avoid the Wraiths and Ghosts pushing forward along the highway, snipers on top of this tower still noticed them. While they were moving between buildings, from a small school to a cramped, four-level store building, a thick beam of energy pulsed directly above Sgt Winston's head. He ducked reflexively as it slammed into a building across the street.

"Get down! Sniper!" he yelled. Then he got on his radio, "Talon 2, this is Wildcat 1-1. Covenant snipers have us pinned down from the south err…southeast. They're firing from the top of that tall tower. Take 'em out, over!"

"Roger. I see contacts on top of that building, moving in for rockets." They watched as she zoomed overhead, but as soon as she neared the elevated ground, she began to receive heavy plasma fire from enemy positions. Her voice came over the radio, noticeably less calm as she tipped her Sparrowhawk out of the enemy's field of fire, "Covenant fire in that zone is too heavy. We're gonna pull out of range and come in for another pass." But when she left, she didn't come in or even fire at the tower again.

Winston got on the radio and spoke to her, "Talon 2, we are still pinned down by those snipers. We need immediate cover now, over!"

She answered back, calm again, "Wildcat 1-1, standby. Immortal has Shortswords inbound."

After a moment of holding their position while the battle raged to the south, they heard a loud engine roar in the skies above. A single Shortsword dove in low, dropping ordinance on top of the Covenant-occupied spur then turning sharply and climbing in altitude. A consecutive string of detonations filled the far side of the highway with explosive fire. The shockwaves of the air strike rattled Sgt Winston and his squad, shaking the windows of the buildings around them. The sniper-occupied tower was nothing more than a smoking, blazing ruin sitting atop a fiery hill.

As the Marines stood up and began to move again, plasma fire erupted from their rear. A Covenant lance of Grunts, Jackals, and an Elite was attacking from their six, moving up the street towards them. The Marines returned fire and broke contact, continuing to move in their original direction. Sgt Winston observed PFC Dubois expose herself and fire three bursts from her MA5, killing a Jackal that had also exposed itself. Another Jackal advanced forward, aiming its plasma pistol at her. Winston brought his own rifle up and fired at the Jackal, hitting it from the side and killing it with a prolonged burst.

He yelled at the PFC, "Let's go! Move!" and she complied, hurriedly rushing towards the other retreating Marines.

Down the street, Everston and Tombo waited for Winston and Dubois to catch up. When the pair approached, the waiting Marines unleashed a hail of suppressing fire. Then when the running Marines passed, the shooting stopped and the other two followed along. Up ahead, Brayson and Avedo laid down fire to the rear as the other four passed. Winston and Dubois got in position to cover them as well, but just as PFC Avedo stopped firing and moved from cover, three plasma bolts struck him directly in the abodomen. Screaming in agony, he collapsed onto the street. Brayson fired his weapon into the enemy, emptying the magazine before picking up his comrade and carrying him to the other Marines. Winston and Dubois suppressed the enemy before picking up and moving themselves. When they passed Tombo and Everston again, the two combined their fire and gunned down the Elite as it advanced. The rest of the lance broke off and began to retreat.

They set Avedo down and administered a small amount of biofoam into his wounds. The amount provided in his individual first aid kit wouldn't be enough to allow him to keep fighting. Winston ordered Brayson to carry him and Everston to watch the rear. Tombo moved out on point, and Dubois stayed between him and Winston. The street was quiet save for the sounds of plasma mortars and the distant gunfire from Immortal's position.

Winston got on the radio, "Talon 2, this is Wildcat 1-1, do you copy? Over."

"Wildcat 1-1, Talon 2 here."

"Do you have eyes on any Covenant troops ahead of our position? We have wounded, over."

She was quiet for a moment, possibly examining the forces on the ground. Then she spoke up, "Affirmative. Be advised, a small number of Covenant troops are in between you and Immortal. Roughly two dozen. We'll take 'em out, over."

"Roger that. In the meantime we'll go around, keep ourselves out of a firefight. Out."

They heard the buzzing of her minigun above, and then they saw several large plasma explosions in the sky. She came back on the radio. "This is Talon 2, I'm taking heavy AA fire. Doing the best I can for you Wildcat."

"Copy that, Talon 2. Pull back. We're going around the enemy, over."

"Roger. Pulling back. Wildcat 1-1 I see a possible route to the west. Head west for a hundred meters and cross the road south, it should take you directly behind Immortal's position. Our time on station is short, over."

"Roger that Talon 2. Thanks for the cover. Over."

"Good luck down there. Talon 2, out."

They moved west, skirting around the Covenant assault force and advancing between houses and through backyards. Eventually, they stepped out onto the street and followed it for another fifty meters. Sgt Winston kept his eyes open the whole way, and he could see Talon 2 still hovering above the battle, firing controlled bursts into the enemy force. He silently thanked the brave pilot for all the help she had given them, hoping to possibly find her after the battle and buy out an entire bar for her sake.

They moved into position, stacking up outside of an empty, darkened café. Avedo groaned in pain. Winston motioned for Everston to cross the street and scout out the other side. She nodded, getting up and moving. But just as she made it halfway across the street, a green streak of radioactive plasma struck her in the head. The top of her helmet exploded in red and green as she collapsed onto the street. She died instantly.

The shooter, now noticing the squad's position, began to fire a steady stream of shots from his carbine. Dust and heat kicked up around them as the squad of Marines scrambled into the building for cover. But just as Brayson helped Avedo to the front door, a ball of burning blue light was dropped from above, landing directly on Brayson's back. Turning his head in time only to notice, the plasma grenade let out a high pitched whine before exploding violently.

Sgt Winston, who had entered the café before them, was blown onto the ground. His neck, arm, and leg felt seared from the blast but he could still stand. Looking around, he tried to get a sense of where his Marines were and what was going on. In the corner of the shop, PFC Dubois looked at Winston fearfully and ran up the stairs to the second floor. Her lifeless body tumbled down the stairs under a hail of plasma fire. Both Tombo and he watched as a flickering shadow stepped over her corpse.

Tombo, looking to a door on the other side of the café now, noticed something that Winston didn't. Screaming a vicious warcry, he fired his MA5 on full auto into thin air, shattering windows, seats, and displays as he advanced towards an unseeable target. A small flicker of energy lit up in the gloom just as Tombo ran out of ammo. An energy sword materialized out of the air and speared the charging Marine, twisting him around and pressing him up against a wall. Relentless, Tombo primed a grenade and yelled curses and insults into the now-emerging face of a dark-armored Elite. The grenade detonated, killing Tombo. But the Elite, whose shields were only dissipated by the blast, rose up from the ground.

Winston watched in horror at the seemingly unstoppable foe. He contemplated running, running and getting to safety and making it home. He hesitated at the thought of the other Marines he had led there – the Marines who were now dead; who he had failed to bring home. Putting aside his insurmountable fear, he raised his rifle and slid his finger around the trigger. But just as soon as he put the Elite in his sights, a steady stream of burning plasma bolts struck him in the side. Yelping in pain, he fell to the ground, his rifle just out of reach.

Clenching his teeth from the pain of the wounds, he attempted to reach out for his rifle. Looking towards the stairwell, he could see a second stealth Elite walking slowly towards him, two plasma rifles held akimbo. Extending his arm out as far as he could, he cried out and made another attempt to retrieve his rifle. But then an armored foot stomped down on top of his wrist, eliciting from him a pained and fearful scream. Looking up in horror, he saw the Elite standing above him. It eyed him, looking him once over and then swiftly driving its energy sword through his chest.

Sgt Winston let out one more blood-gurgled gasp for breath as the sword ripped itself out of him. The life drained from his eyes just as the radio in his ears came to life.

"Wildcat 1-1, this is Talon 2, over." Nothing. "Wildcat 1-1, this is Talon 2. We are out of fuel and RTB, how copy over?" Nothing.


	8. First Lieutenant Kate Tilleger 2

_1Lt Tilleger, K. Day 1, 1800 Hrs_

Lt Kate Tilleger waited for a response over the radio. The group of Marines she was escorting had suddenly dropped silent. She had wanted to at least check in with them before she had to take her Sparrowhawk back to base. Bringing her craft down closer to their last known position, she scanned the ground below.

Seeing nothing, she asked Lt Ansley, "Do you see them down there?"

He took a moment to scan with his own eyes. "Nothing," he said. Then he peered into his controls and viewed the battlefield with the ship's thermal optics. "I got a Marine body down in the street. KIA. Nothing else," he sounded mystified.

Kate muttered a curse under her breath. She sank back in her seat and looked briefly down into the buildings, then back at her own controls. Glancing out of the cockpit and to her right, she observed Immortal Company's position. They were being hit hard. Wraiths and infantry were attempting to overrun them, while battalions of armor rolled right past and into the city. Aside from her, there was no other close air support. The rest of her flight had all been shot down and killed by Covenant AA outside the city roughly an hour ago. Banking hard to the right, she drove her Sparrowhawk forward.

"Get the turret ready Ansley," she told her gunner.

He hesitated. "Uh…Ma'am? We're bingo on fuel…"

"I know. Just get it ready. We'll be on our way back soon."

He shrugged and focused on his controls. Down below, the company of Marines was attempting to stall a Covenant advance. Wraiths hammered at machine gun positions and snipers, while overwhelming plasma fire kept the Marines' heads down. The Sparrowhawk came in low, flying straight towards the Wraiths below.

She shouted, "Fire!" but before she could even get the word out, Ansley was tearing into the Covenant ranks with the minigun. As the Sparrowhawk passed above the targets, Tilleger banked the aircraft enough to fly horizontally across the battlefield. The minigun continued firing. As they broke away, Tilleger kept the craft flying backwards, and Ansley kept the gun firing into the enemy tanks. Just as they were about to turn away completely, the gun spooled up dry, and the ammunition counter over Ansley's feed read zero.

They pulled away and gained altitude, effectively leaving the battle that was taking place in the northern hills. She didn't like to bear the thought, but the Marines on the ground would have to deal with the enemy on their own. The lone Sparrowhawk flew over the valley, heading directly towards the space port, where the squadron's refueling station was.

Kate glanced out of the canopy at the valley below. Unlike the relative calm of that morning, Victory City was now a hotbed of flames, crumbled buildings, pillars of black smoke, and raging firefights. To the west, downtown burned; several AA guns continued to fire into the sky, but their efforts did little to quell the onslaught of Banshees and Seraphs. Looking eastward, Kate saw that the industrial district had taken the heaviest amount of damage in the fighting; factories and tall business centers were engulfed within dozens of separate infernos, burning uncontrollably around the ground troops who fight within them.

The pilot opened her comms and contacted the air traffic controller at the space port. "Tower, this is Talon 2, over."

"Talon 2, this is…" a plasma detonation echoed over the radio, "…Tower. Uh go ahead, over."

"Tower. Requesting landing clearance."

"You're clear!" His voice was shaky as he said, "Be advised Talon 2, we are currently under sporadic fire from enemy artillery."

"Understood Tower. I can't make it anywhere else. Coming in now."

"I see you. Uh…Land at pad one niner, over."

"Affirmative. Landing at pad one niner." She brought her Sparrowhawk in gently, touching down on the tarmac. Just outside the airfield, a considerable distance away, a plasma mortar struck the open field. Kate noticed it but didn't show any concern. She popped open the canopy and both her and her copilot climbed out as various personnel attended to the repair, rearming, and refueling of their aircraft. A Marine came by and received a report from Tilleger about the damage sustained from Covenant AA fire.

The man asked, "Where's the rest of flight ma'am?"

Kate could only shake her head to him as she walked off. Ansley and she grabbed a couple of MRE's and sat down near their bird, watching the repairs as they ate. They were both quiet. She couldn't stop thinking about the rest of the squadron and how they had all been picked off by triple A over MSR Ceasar. She was tired, covered in sweat, her mind numb and nerves wracked.

Looking over at Ansley, she saw that her red-haired second lieutenant was noticeably disturbed. He stared out past the men working on their aircraft and watched the field as Covenant artillery continued to sporadically detonate in the distance. With a blank expression, he ate slowly from the contents of his MRE.

Kate felt more saddened at his current state of mind than hers. They were both grieving, but neither of them did much to show it. She told herself that she could handle it, but she was worried about Ansley. After a few more moments of silence, she decided that because he was her subordinate, it was her responsibility to say something to him.

She spoke slowly at first, "Ansley…"

He turned and looked up at her, his expressionless face betraying the smallest hints of his sorrow.

"We should…" she paused as she spoke, sighing and recollecting her thoughts, then speaking again, "We should visit their families when we get back to Reach."

He nodded solemnly, turning again to look back out into the field. "Yeah," he quietly said after another moment.

They sat in silence again until finally she got up and said, "Ansley. Stay near the bird and get some sleep. I'll be nearby." He complied, folding his arms and leaning his head back against a wall.

Kate got up and took a short walk around the terminal they had landed in. She made sure to keep her radio on and not to wander too far, as they would need her to be able to get into her aircraft at a moment's notice. But she was unable to simply sit in place and do nothing while the memory of her fallen teammates was so fresh. So she took a walk; she would've taken a run had there been time for it.

Exploring the interior of the terminal, she walked around various crates of supplies, munitions, and aircraft parts. Dozens of other squadrons had made the terminal their temporary base of operations. From dozens of separate launch pads, AV-18 Hornets, D77-TC Pelicans, UH-144 Falcons, and other AV-22 Sparrowhawks took off and landed, coming to and fro from various missions. Even an AC-220 Vulture was parked outside, its crew rushing around the hull running maintenance checks as it powered itself up for take-off.

She had wandered for roughly twenty minutes before coming outside to the opposite end of the terminal. Unlike the one being used as a makeshift military airfield, the other terminals in the distance were tall, extensive structures which spanned a length large enough to house a Halcyon-class cruiser between them. Instead of housing warships however, the buildings provided boarding gates for dozens upon dozens of civilian transports and freighters. All of which, Kate presumed, carried hundreds of innocent souls aboard.

Nearby, a column of transport Warthogs sat idle. Dozens of Marines were loading ammo crates off pallets and into the vehicles. Having nothing else to do but wait, Kate stood outside the terminal and vacantly watched the Marines work.

A female Marine came up to her. "Smoke?" the stranger asked, holding out a cigarette.

"No thanks," Kate said. The Marine lit her cigarette and took a drag, blowing out a stream of smoke. They stood in silence for a while before Kate spoke up and asked, "Where are you guys headed?"

"Firebase White," the Marine replied. Kate looked at her for the first time. Her rank was a golden bar: second lieutenant. The name tag on her body armor read _Grey_. Lt Grey continued talking, "There's a lot of troops in contact in the industrial district."

"I noticed that," Kate agreed.

"It's gonna be hell taking all these supplies there and getting through unscratched." She puffed out more smoke from her cigarette.

"The fighting's getting worse everywhere," Kate told her, "Up in the hills? The Covenant are in force." She motioned in the general direction of MSR Ceasar.

Lt Grey nodded, "We tried to get up there to resupply the infantry company holed up in that Covie ship."

Kate perked up her ears and turned to listen to her, asking, "What happened to them?"

"I don't know," the lieutenant said, "Our escorts from the 1/15th couldn't break through. I think they're still up there fighting though." She stomped out her cigarette and donned the chin strap to her helmet, getting ready to leave.

"I see. Thanks," Kate told her. Somehow she felt relieved talking to the other officer.

"No. Thank you," Lt Grey told her. "Matilda," she said, offering her hand.

"Kate," she said as she took it and shook.

"Good luck lieutenant."

"You too."

As Lt Matilda Grey turned to her Marines and ordered them to finish loading the vehicles and prep to step off, Kate heard the rumbling of engines coming from the spaceship terminals. A single transport rose steadily into the air, it then turned and angled itself upward, accelerating high into the sky. Several more ships of various classification followed suit until the few terminals that stood before her remained empty. Turning abruptly, Lt Kate Tilleger reentered her terminal and began walking purposefully toward landing pad 19.


	9. Captain Ian Janson 1

_Cpt Janson, I. Day 1, 2000 Hrs_

Aboard the UNSC _Ardennes_, a company of ODSTs were conducting a last minute briefing over the engagement on Victory's surface. Captain Ian Janson outlined as much relevant information as he could regarding the oncoming drop. They were short on time, as the _Ardennes_ was hurrying to the drop coordinates in an attempt to eject the Helljumpers while under fire. Templar Company would drop within the vicinity of Firebase White, reinforce UNSC forces operating in the area, and engage and destroy all hostile forces.

The ship's captain spoke over the intercom just as Cpt Janson finished his briefing. "Attention Templar. We are five minutes from drop. I repeat, five minutes from drop," he said.

"Perfect timing," Janson told his men, "Report to your pods; prepare to drop."

The ODSTs entered their SOEIVs and awaited the drop. Altogether, Cpt Janson had three platoons of 26 men each. Including himself, his RTO, his First Sergeant, and his XO, Templar Company had a total of 82 men and women. Each platoon was broken down into four six-man squads, with each squad member being specialists in various mission-critical skill sets. While these squads were all perfectly capable of operating autonomously, the drop onto Victory would be conducted in force.

Janson stood within his command HEV, sending different objective markers, nav data, and waypoints to the separate platoon leaders. The lieutenants would then separate the information and assign various objectives to the different squad leaders in their platoon. The _Ardennes_ began to shake and rumble as it dodged Covenant fire and maneuvered into position above Victory City. The drop was within a minute now.

Cpt Janson keyed his comms with the First Sergeant, 1Sgt Eldris. He said, "Take us down, first sergeant." He, Ron Eldris, and dozens of ODSTs in their company had been in the service for a long time. Often, the display of bravado before a drop was necessary to ease Trooper morale and to rouse the men into a fighting spirit.

Eldris, a tall, dark, and imposing man, spoke over company-wide comms to the entire unit. "Troopers!" he announced in his deep, British accent, "See you on the ground, or we'll see you in hell! Good luck and Godspeed!"

Seconds later, Cpt Janson began the drop timer, a three-count beep that would initiate the deployment of the ODSTs. Just as he started it, the _Ardennes_ shook violently. The hull shrieked loudly as an explosion rocked the entirety of the ship. To the Helljumpers' horror, flames began to fill the drop bay, engulfing the bow-end of the room. Troopers were cursing and screaming into their squad comms one second, and then the next, they were roughly ejected into the upper atmosphere of Victory.

Janson couldn't see the burning destroyer _Ardennes_ above them save for a few pieces of the hull drifting away from the ship. However, he could see a Covenant cruiser in the distance. It began to accelerate directly towards them. Flashes of purple and blue energy emerged from its port and starboard, attempting to collide with the HEVs descending rapidly towards the planet below. Janson didn't see any of his pods get hit. Then, as suddenly as the battlecruiser had begun its approach, a large, fast-moving kinetic round struck the ship directly from below. It exploded violently, tearing itself apart amid countless secondary explosions.

By now, the HEVs had begun to pierce the atmosphere, burning hotly as they descended. At the proper altitude, they deployed their drag chutes. The sky was dark. Their pods lit up across the night as they dropped through the clouds. Janson watched the ground become larger and larger before touching down with a loud thud.

Outside, he had seen from above a chaotic engagement taking place. It appeared as if Wraiths were assaulting a dug-in UNSC position within a fiery no-man's land. From the ground, there was nothing but a darkness that was frequently pierced by the booming flashes of explosions not too far away. Activating his VISR, Cpt Janson grabbed his BR55 and stepped out into the night.

All around, the noises of shouting and gunfire permeated the battlefield. He sprinted towards the fighting, all the while scanning around him for contacts. Seconds later, Janson picked up friendlies moving to his right. Seeing their CO, two ODSTs rallied up with him as he ran forward. He motioned for them to follow him and they fell in. Cresting a rise, he dropped to a knee, zooming into key locations with his VISR.

Directly before them was an extensive trench line. Marines in defensive positions held out against a sustained Covenant attack using bunkers, machine guns, mortars, and landmines. The Wraiths kept up a near-constant bombardment of the trenches. That was disrupted however, when the Helljumpers had landed. Out in no man's land, within the trenches, and rallying directly behind Cpt Janson, the ODSTs violently engaged the Covenant attackers.

Janson quickly lost contact with the ODSTs who had landed beyond the trenches in the middle of the enemy. He focused his efforts on finding his platoon leaders and getting them to report in. Keying his helmet comm, he said, "All Templar leaders, this is Templar 6 Actual. Radio check, over."

"This is Templar 7," Eldris responded, "Loud and clear 6 Actual."

There was no response from the executive officer or first platoon's leader.

After a short pause, 2nd platoon responded, "Templar 2. We read you 6."

"Templar 3. Lima-charlie."

Cpt Janson tried once again to contact first platoon. "Templar 1 Actual, this is 6 Actual. Radio check, over." But there was no response. "Templar 1-7, this is Templar 6. Radio check, over." Nothing. "Damnit!" he cursed quietly. Turning to his left, he noticed one of his squad leaders. "Staff sergeant! Get your men down to that trench and reinforce those Marines." The Covenant infantry were beginning to advance again.

The staff sergeant nodded and said, "Roger that sir." Then he turned to an assembled group of roughly ten ODSTs. Motioning for them to follow, the staff sergeant led the men down into the fighting.

On Janson's right were the two ODSTs he had picked up when he first landed. Recognizing one as a sniper named Berg, he called out to him and motioned him over. Corporal Berg moved over and took a knee beside his CO. Janson pointed out to the far right and said, "Take a position about 200 meters to our right and provide overwatch for the defensive line."

"Yes sir," Berg said, and taking his companion with him as a spotter, the ODSTs disappeared into the darkness.

Focusing on locating first platoon, Cpt Janson activated the NAV data in his VISR, hoping to locate elements of first platoon in the field. Before he even got the chance to thoroughly scan the area, a woman's voice contacted him over his radio.

Her voice was panicked and urgent; gunfire pervaded the background. She said, "Templar 6, this is Templar 1-2. 1-6 and 1-7 are KIA! We are surrounded and under heavy fire!"

Janson stiffened up, scanning for her location as he responded, "Templar 1-2 what is your current location? Over."

"We're out in the buildings. North of the DZ!" Her name was Staff Sergeant Leslie Banks, usually a very confident and disciplined Trooper who had had plenty of experience in the company.

"Do you have a grid 1-2?"

The battle continued below as he waited for her response. Eldris had managed to find him and was coordinating the rally point for the rest of the company. Banks got back on the radio, "I'm a little busy 6! Standby!" The sounds of battle echoed furiously over her end of the static.

"1-2, calm the hell down Trooper. Send a beacon out over the net, that's all I need."

For a moment, there was no response. Janson simply watched the battle down below. The ODSTs were effectively taking out the Elites leading the charge, disrupting the morale of their lesser troops. Banks finally responded to him. "Sent," she said briskly.

Her location blinked on Cpt Janson's VISR map. He looked out in her general direction. A fierce firefight was taking place among the burning city ruins. Janson got back on the radio, telling her, "1-2, fall back to a defensive posture. Once we beat back the assault, we're coming to get you. Hang tight until then roger?"

"We'll do what we can 6. 1-2, out."

Janson turned off the VISR map and observed as his Troopers assembled who they could and moved out to their individual objectives. Already, several squads had reported successful missions, having seized key objectives across the battlefield. The Covenant troops were in disorder, and the Wraiths now lay smoldering from heavy weapons fire.

Lowering itself from the sky, a Covenant Spirit attempted to make a landing in the field. Rockets from several ODST positions pounded the dropship simultaneously. It listed slowly to the side before turning all the way over and crashing violently to the ground in a bright blue flash. Several Banshees swooped in low and strafed their positions in retaliation, firing plasma cannons and fuel rods into the Helljumper ranks. Cpt Janson ducked behind a berm for cover, but the booming of AA guns from Firebase White to the rear informed him that the Banshees wouldn't be repeating their run.

With the Covenant attackers successfully driven off, Janson gathered up the few squads that had completed their objectives and were idle. Leading them to the front, he took 20 ODSTs out into the no-man's land. First platoon was isolated behind enemy lines; he was going to personally see to it that they made it back to friendly territory.


	10. Second Lieutenant Matilda Grey 1

_2Lt Grey, M. Day 1, 2200 Hrs_

Lieutenant Matilda Grey watched the industrial district burn from within her Warthog. Her supply convoy had been halted due to reports of an ongoing attack near Firebase White. The attack happened to be taking place right along their route. She considered turning the entire convoy around and taking another path over a few hills to their south, but it would've been a nightmare to maneuver her fifteen vehicle convoy back through the destroyed, cramped, burning streets of Victory City. When they saw drop pods descending in the distance, she decided to have the convoy hold position until it was clear to move.

They were in as much of a defensive stance as they could put up. Every vehicle sat still with their lights and read-outs powered off. The entire column was in the middle of a deserted street; nobody liked it. Marines scanned the glowing darkness around them with their bare eyes. Grey found it ironic that for a platoon of truck drivers whose sole purpose it was to deliver supplies, they themselves hadn't been supplied with proper night vision equipment. The only personnel who were issued night optics were the drivers and squad leaders.

Sensing her driver's trepidation, she picked up the vehicle's radio and spoke into it. "Viper 6, Viper 6, this is Gypsy 3, over." Beside her, Gunnery Sergeant Grimes tapped his foot absently on the floor of the Warthog. Turning back to their gunner, Lance Corporal Park, he told him to keep his eyes open and keep scanning his sector.

Viper 6 responded, "Gypsy 3, this is Viper 6. Send your traffic, over."

"Viper 6, is your sector cleared of hostiles?"

"Roger that Gypsy 3. We are clear of hostiles for the time being. If you want to push through, now's the time, over."

"Copy that Viper 6, out." She nodded at GySgt Grimes, who nodded back and shifted the Warthog from park to drive. Grey switched the radio to the platoon net and said, "All Gypsy 3 victors be advised, Viper is clear of contacts. We are oscar mike. I say again, we are oscar mike."

Engines began to rev as the point vehicle led the convoy away from their stationary position. Out of all her vehicles, she only had three M12 gun Hogs. Her command vehicle was one of them, and she placed the other two at the front and the rear. The rest of her vehicles were of the M831 variant, the troop transport. Except they were transporting crates of medical supplies and ammunition instead, and the troops on the back had to find enough room to squeeze in among the cargo.

They continued along, driving through the dark. The streets were deserted. Past the next block, on the other side of a line of medium-high buildings, they would hit a dirt road that would take them south to Firebase White. As they came up to the buildings the convoy ground to a very sudden, instantaneous halt.

GySgt Grimes slammed on the brake. The Warthog stopped just short of colliding with the transport in front of them. The Marine sitting on the backseat of the cargo bed in front of them breathed a sigh of relief and peered around the ammo boxes to find out what was happening. The other vehicle occupants in the convoy began giving out orders to their Marines to watch their sectors and stay frosty.

Lt Grey keyed her helmet radio. "Gypsy 3-1, what's holding us up? Over."

"Uh…it's nothing Gypsy 3. Some friendlies were crossing the road. We're oscar mike again."

"Roger that. All Gypsy 3 victors prepare to move."

The convoy set out once more. As they rolled by the buildings, Grey looked over her driver's side and saw a group of six ODSTs moving down an alley. One of them was eyeing the convoy as his companions walked past. Then, shaking his head somewhat mockingly, he turned and disappeared into the shadows.

Rolling down the dirt road, Gypsy 3 saw the remains of a massive battlefield. Fires burned sporadically in the no-man's land, and bodies and twisted metal covered the ground in various states of ruin. Whatever houses used to remain in the wide-open stretch of earth before them were now nothing more than husks of debris having been leveled consistently by artillery. The Marines tried to keep scanning for threats, but the sight of it all drew the majority of their attention while driving through.

Soon they came up to a system of trenches. Marines and Helljumpers sat silent and still within them. The road turned south and the convoy followed. On the far left side of the earthworks, a large bunker stood between the road and the trench. Thick sets of barbwire crossed the road, held in place by removable sticks or rods dug lightly into the ground. On the other side of the road was a small wall and then a smaller system of trenches. A Marine manning the makeshift gate came out of the bunker and lifted the end of the wire, walking it over to the far side of the road and pulling the gate open for Lt Grey's convoy. They continued through and Grey nodded to the Marine as they drove past.

The road to Firebase White was nothing but dirt, sand, and the occasional clump of grass. When they pulled up to the rudimentary-looking base, they had to wait while the gate was opened for them. The walls of the base were roughly ten feet tall. Reinforced barriers, packed with dirt and rocks, supported the inside perimeter, rising just a little below the height of the main wall. The barriers also allowed for defenders to climb on top of them and defend the walls wherever they needed to. The gate before them was guarded by a pillbox, a small tower, and a gatehouse.

On the inside of the base, artillery guns fired nonstop while Marines rushed about their duties on the ground. Several landing pads were present, with medevac Pelicans transporting the wounded out. Two large Scythe anti-air guns stood imposingly, one positioned at each end of the firebase. The structures in the base were tents, either made of canopy or the composite metal used for more long-term UNSC encampments. All tents were dug in a couple feet below the earth and reinforced with sandbags and barriers.

Gypsy 3-1 brought the convoy to a halt in front of the supply tent, where the Marines stationed there directed the vehicles into parking spots around a small lot. Without wasting any time or being told what to do, Lt Grey's Marines leapt out of their vehicles and began to unload everything they had brought with them. Nearby Marines with no tasks at hand rushed up to help, carrying supplies into the large tent beside the lot.

The supply sergeant came up to Lt Grey. He was a short man with dark hair who wasn't wearing his headgear. He had the beginnings of a beard, and the hair on his head had grown longer than what would normally be allowed. He said to her, "It's a good thing you got here ma'am. The Covenant just hit our forward position hard. We expended just about everything keeping them back."

Lt Grey responded, "No problem at all. We brought enough 120 millimeter shells for the guns to keep firing for another day. If you need any help distributing the chow and ammo to the line companies, I'd be happy to help you do that. In the meantime, I think we should unload the medical supplies for the aid station first."

"Right. Uh…we'll be fine with the distribution. Each company will be sending their own Hogs to pick up ammo. I'll just need help documenting the supplies we received."

She nodded, reaching into her Warthog, pulling out a small datapad, and handing it to him. "Here's a manifest of the supplies. Copy it from here."

"Thanks ma'am."

"Those Helljumpers…" Lt Grey started, having just remembered seeing them in the trenches.

"Those guys saved our lives. They dropped in just in time."

"I didn't know they would be coming in," she said, "Will there be enough ammo for both them and the battalion?"

The supply sergeant paused, pursed his lips, then he shrugged. "We'll make do. I'm gonna have to take them into consideration when we hand out the supplies to each company." He looked at her appreciatively. "Glad you pointed that out. I would've completely forgotten about them."

Grey shrugged. "Don't mention it.

She didn't want her people to stay at Firebase White for long if they didn't need to. Seeing as the Marines there were holding up well enough on their own, and that Gypsy 3's mission objective had been completed, Lt Grey told her platoon to mount up. In proper order, the Warthog convoy turned about and drove to the gates. As soon as the large metal doors slid to each side within the walls, the Warthog column rolled out onto the dirt road.

Once they return to headquarters, another mission would be waiting for them. As a result of all the heavy fighting, the only effective way to transport enough supplies without having to make multiple runs was to transport it all at once. Her convoy was more vulnerable to attack that way, but it kept the Marines from having to make endless, never-ending trips from one dangerous position to another. At least, it should have.

They had been running convoys nonstop for the entire day. Before the battle began, she would only need to send out three or four Warthogs on resupply runs, and that was only if Pelicans hadn't already resupplied the Marine positions. It surprised Grey how quickly the supplies were used up now that the battle had begun. The Marines were expending a vast amount of ammunition in so short a time in order to just to keep the Covenant at bay. They were expending themselves too. Medical supplies diminished as the casualty rate rose, and it rose quickly during the first day.

Departing the trench line, Gypsy 3 maneuvered along the unsteady dirt path, heading west and eventually hitting the hardball road. As they passed the line of buildings marking the end of no-man's land, Grey managed a look to where she had seen the ODSTs earlier. Nothing stood there except for the shadows of the surrounding buildings. Off in the distance, the fighting continued in the industrial district. Pillars of flame rose high and illuminated the night with a violent, orange glow. Turning back to the convoy, Lt Grey decided to focus on her Marines and getting them back to base.


	11. Captain Ian Janson 2

_Cpt Janson, I. Day 1, 2300 Hrs_

Among the fiery ruins of the city, the silhouettes of ODSTs advanced between devastated avenues and through fallen buildings. Heavy smoke permeated the air, covering the warzone with a thick fog of war. Visibility was poor, so each man and woman had to strain their eyes scanning rooftops and windows. They relied more on their hearing and VISRs.

Cpt Janson was in the middle of the formation. The three squads he had brought with him were spread out across several blocks operating in two-man teams. He made sure that they watched their intervals however, keeping each squad within a short sprint from his position. On his HUD, a waypoint led him in the direction of SSgt Banks' beacon.

Gunfire was being exchanged ahead. None of his squads were taking contact, but the gathered remnants of first platoon were under heavy fire. They picked up the pace, creeping through desolate and abandoned structures and around the wrecks of dozens of different vehicles. At last, entering a small building and observing from the second floor, he and two other ODSTs: Sgt Orzuna and LCpl McShaffer, managed to get a commanding view of the firefight before them.

Down below, Grunts and Elites made numerous attempts to cross a once-busy intersection while under heavy fire. From the ruins of a bombed out building, first platoon returned fire. A Spirit swooped in and dropped reinforcements on the opposite side of their building.

Taking a position to oversee it all, Cpt Janson had to be careful that they didn't accidentally get hit by friendly fire. Noises nearby drew the attention of the ODSTs; they weren't alone. On the same floor as them, a pair of Jackals crept about and took sporadic shots with needle rifles at first platoon's position. With a few silent hand and arm signals, Janson ordered them taken out. The two Helljumpers moved in behind each one of the enemy shooters. Then, in one swift, synchronous motion, they dug their knives into the creature's skulls and dragged them dying into a darkened room.

Over the radio, he heard Templar 2-2 on his left report in. "Templar 6, 2-2 is in position."

He replied, "Copy that 2-2. 2-3, this is 6. Continue to hold position at our rear, copy?"

"2-3 copies, 6."

Then there was an explosion to their right flank. The three ODSTs turned to see a small plume of flame rising from a building. Shooting followed. A report over the radio came to Janson. The voice on the other end said, "Templar 6, this is 2-4. We've been compromised. Troops in contact, over."

"Copy that 2-4. Templar 2-2, open up. Engage the enemy!"

Second squad's leader responded strongly, "Affirmitive 6!" Then grenades began detonating amidst the formation of Covenant attackers. Janson, Orzuna, and McShaffer all provided support by fire with their BR55's as second squad began a slow and cautious assault through the intersection. An Elite turned around to engage the Troopers on the second floor but Janson gunned him down with several bursts.

As the other two men mopped up the enemy below, he got on the radio with first platoon. "Templar 1-2, this is Templar 6. You still there?"

She responded, sounding relieved, "Roger that sir. We have casualties that need immediate evac, over."

"Copy that. 2-2 is inbound from the south. Grab your wounded and pull out with them."

The members of 2-2 rushed into the destroyed building. The sounds of close quarters fighting followed. The enemy reinforcements were attacking from the far side, away from his field of vision. Looking towards the right flank, he saw flashes of gunfire and the telltale streak of a Wraith's plasma mortar just before it detonated near fourth squad.

Janson keyed his radio. "2-4, you need to hold that position until we extract 1-2, over."

The squad leader replied, "6, we're being outflanked by armor. We have two KIA! Can't hold long. Over!"

The report troubled Janson. They were in immediate danger of being encircled and overwhelmed. He radioed to the extraction team. "2-2, you need to hurry up and extract 1-2!"

"Roger 6. Working on it!" ODSTs came out carrying three wounded Troopers. One of the downed men was on a litter, requiring two other Troopers to carry him. The other Helljumpers pulled security, scanning the vicinity around them as they moved across the intersection towards Cpt Janson's building. Aside from the wounded from first platoon, only five of the survivors were combat capable.

As soon as they entered the building, Janson motioned to McShaffer and Orzuna, saying, "Let's go!" They stood up and followed him downstairs. While descending a flight of stairs, he radioed fourth squad. "2-4, we have them. Fall back! Break contact. I say again, break contact!"

"Roger we're moving!" he shouted loudly into the radio.

On the first floor, Janson saw SSgt Banks. He walked up to her, "Staff sergeant, what's your status?"

"It wasn't good sir. The rest of the platoon rallied around our beacon, but the Covies came in too. As far as I know, we're all that's left." She looked mournfully at her old position before being dismissed by the captain and running purposefully towards her Troopers.

Janson shook his head regretfully. They had fought and given their lives like Helljumpers. It was expected. Going up to his rear security element, third squad, he told the squad leader, "We're gonna have Wraiths coming down this road really soon. I want second squad taking the survivors along the buildings heading south. Third, hold position here, ambush those tanks, and then break contact. Head to the rally point and then we'll fall back to Viper's position."

"Got it sir," the squad leader replied. Then he turned about and began placing his squad in ambush positions. Two Helljumpers would be on the second floor with rockets and grenades, while the rest of the shooters would be on the first floor engaging the enemy directly.

As soon as the extraction element stepped off and began moving south, fourth squad came running down the road under a hail of enemy plasma fire. Captain Janson stepped outside and motioned for them to follow him, shouting, "Let's go! Follow me! We're pulling back!" And the men joined him as they ran after second squad.

A rocket struck the first tank that emerged to pursue them. The Wraith exploded and sunk heavily to the ground. Enemy fire peppered the second story window of third squad's position. The Helljumpers tossed grenades out into the street, decimating the Covenant's vanguard of attackers. A second Wraith rounded the corner and sped down the street into the firefight. It elevated its turret, angled itself to third squad, and fired a solid plasma shell directly into the second floor. Then it turned to fire at the retreating extraction team. The plasma mortar detonated along the top of a building, right above their heads.

Above the captain's group, a Spirit circled around and dropped a lance of Covenant on top of the buildings across the street. Janson, fourth squad, and Orzuna and McShaffey exchanged fire with the enemy. Moving from cover to cover, they bounded down the road, killing the Covenant attackers as they went along.

Turning around to make sure that third squad was breaking contact, Cpt Janson saw one of the ODSTs rush out into the street under enemy fire. The Trooper deftly tossed a grenade into the rear cooling system of the Wraith, and then he ducked safely into the far side buildings as the tank exploded wildly. Third squad began to break contact, although there were only five of them now.

At the rally point, just outside of no-man's land, the rest of the team gathered. Once Janson arrived under heavy fire, he shouted and gestured to the Troopers carrying the wounded. "Go! Go! Go!" he shouted repeatedly. They picked up and began moving back towards friendly lines. His element remained and waited for third squad to catch up. Once they did, the combined squads picked up and raced across no-man's land towards friendly lines.

Two Banshees and a Spirit caught up to them. Before they could do any damage however, rocket fire from a nearby hill struck the Covenant dropship on the side. Another missile followed, ripping off the entire right extension of the alien craft. It twisted in the air, crashing in flames at the foot of the hill. A shockwave from the crash's explosion swept over the retreating Troopers, who continued along undeterred. Concentrated pockets of machine gun fire and small arms fire hit the Banshees as they swooped in for a gun run. Tracers filled the air overhead while Janson continued to run.

A fuel rod burst right next to Orzuna, who brought his arm up reflexively to shield his face. Unhurt, he pressed on past the cloud of heat and smoke. The other Banshee came in, unleashing a torrent of plasma from its cannons. One of the Troopers from second squad was cut down by the strafing run, but the men carrying the litter barely escaped the attack by half a meter's distance. Banks stopped and fired back angrily into the sky.

Before the Banshees could strafe them again, machine guns opened fire all along the UNSC lines. A triple-barreled .50 caliber emplacement fired fixatedly at one of the Banshees, damaging its hull and ripping apart a wing. It spiraled out of control, burning violently as it did so before finally crashing loudly into the dirt road beside the trenches. The other Banshee swiftly turned around and boosted away before it could be shot down by the heavy gunfire.

Janson's ODSTs quickly leapt into the trenches. They lowered in the wounded Troopers and took them to the nearest aid station. The captain met with Eldris, and then he assembled the Troopers who had gone out with him. Out of 20 Helljumpers, they had lost four. First platoon had been severely crippled, and with only five members present and able to fight, they were considered combat ineffective.

The captain spoke to them, "Troopers. Good work tonight. We don't abandon our own, and now the Covenant know that. First Sergeant has informed me that the 27th Division has provided us with some hot chow. Make sure you all get some."

The assembled men and women quietly uttered a collective, "Ooh-rah," and then they were dismissed. Janson quickly set about working with the officers of Viper Company, establishing watch schedules and familiarizing himself with sector sketches and gun emplacements. He watched as artillery pounded away at the buildings he had just returned from. His troops had earned a small reprieve for the time being, but the battle was far from being over.


	12. Lance Corporal Joshua Knight 2

_LCpl Knight, J. Day 1, 2500 Hrs._

It was now the middle of the night. Bravo Company had been conducting sporadic patrols throughout the afternoon. When battalion HQ, Warlord, ordered the overextended infantry companies to fall back to the downtown firebase, Bravo hadn't received word. Due to plasma bombardment and a Covenant attack, the entirety of Bravo Company's command had been wiped out. The order finally reached them when Charlie Company, callsign Chosen, had fallen back to form a perimeter around battalion and the HQ called wondering where they were.

By order of rank, 1Lt Walsh from first platoon would've been in charge. However, he was killed during an attack while his platoon was holding the road leading into the northern hill residential zones. Command now fell onto 2Lt Logan Lann of second platoon.

Lann was the commander of Lance Corporal Knight's platoon. He had ordered his Marines to complete their current patrol before telling them that they had orders to pull back to battalion HQ. Knight respected the man, who was roughly his age, although possibly a year or two older. He was decisive and competent, but the back and forth skirmishes in the north hills had drained the Lance Corporal of his motivation. Lt Lann's strategy of conducting patrols by the platoon and hitting targets and then retreating did nothing to help Bravo Company gain any solid ground, only to take it and then give it back up to the swarms of enemies they faced.

Now they were in the middle of an extensive park, in the middle of the night, lying flat on the ground with all digital displays powered off. Externally, Knight did nothing to show his discontent and exhaustion, only mechanically following the orders of Cpl Remann. They were waiting for third platoon to link up with them. Then they would head south, link up with first platoon, and then head through the city to HQ as a company. Up above, Phantoms hovered by, searching for any evidence of the Marines. They were about to be surrounded.

The entire platoon lay in a roughly triangular shape, with heavier weapons placed at the apexes. Lt Lann, his platoon sergeant, SSgt Lindelli, and his RTO, Cpl Antonov, were all situated in the middle of the formation. Knight lay directly beside PFC Greenholder facing the east. Roughly five meters to their right was PFC Hernandez and Cpl Remann. Five meters to their left was LCpl Day and PFC Hollis. Down that way, the rest of fireteam Bravo and Charlie made up the rest of the line. Warrior 2-2 and 2-1, the other squads, made up the other lines to the formation.

They had been lying on the ground for nearly an hour. Knight speculated that 3rd platoon was possibly lost or dead. They hadn't heard any gunfire from their direction, so they couldn't have been overrun. On top of that, 2Lt Daniel Percell, the platoon leader of 3rd, had been an enlisted Marine before becoming an officer. It was highly unlikely that he had gotten an entire platoon of infantry Marines lost in a suburban park. Knight was baffled, and he contemplated the issue as he watched the burning skyline of Victory City through the treetops.

Cpl Haines, their squad leader, relayed no information to them. That was because they were running at 100% noise discipline. Not a soul was to make a single sound. The Covenant were all around them; 2-1 even watched as a pair of Grunts walked by mere meters from their position. All Knight was left with were his thoughts. And the endless waiting, the dreaded thought of being found, the pitch black darkness around him, and the inability to say anything about it was driving him insane.

Then off in the distance, some one hundred meters to his front, he saw movement along a line of bushes. The glow of energy weapons signaled to him that they belonged to Covenant troops. Dragging his body forward and over Greenholder so that he could make eye contact with Remann, he signaled to his team leader, who nodded in response. Cpl Haines then silently crept up to the line to get a look, as did the platoon sergeant.

What they saw next truly confused them. The Covenant were advancing out of a line of bushes, heading directly towards Lann's 2nd platoon. The bushes were taller than the average man, about as tall as a Covenant Elite. At the very end of the hedges, the end of the Covenant line of advance, Marines slowly crept through the dark. They were headed towards 2nd platoon as well, moving crouched in a tactical column. In the darkness of the night, neither group noticed that they were actually advancing beside the other.

The Marines in Knight's squad had their rifles trained on the Covenant, but they didn't know if they should shoot or not. Knight himself was worried that they would accidently hit 3rd platoon in the chaos. As he watched them, he all of a sudden saw an Elite emerge from the hedgerow and bump directly into a Marine. They each stumbled backwards and shouted in surprise. Knight silently swore. Then Remann opened fire on the Elite.

All of Warrior 2-3 opened fire at that point, firing their MA5s on semi-automatic. The Covenant returned fire as well, although their plasma rounds flew harmlessly over the concealed Marines. 3rd platoon began attacking too while simultaneously breaking contact and rushing to the south. Hit from two sides in a surprise attack, the Covenant forces faltered. Men from 3rd platoon tossed grenades at their enemies before sprinting away. The explosions lit up the darkness for a few quick seconds as the shooting continued.

SSgt Lindelli came up to Cpl Haines and shouted into his ear, "Shift your fire to the left. Don't hit 3rd platoon!" All the while Antonov attempted to hail 3rd platoon.

Warrior 2-3 remained in position as the Covenant soldiers eventually fell back. By chance, it happened to have become a rather risky L-shaped ambush. Now the enemy was regrouping and planning to overrun them all at once. Knight kept his eyes open for the next wave to come charging through the hedges.

Behind him, he heard Cpl Haines yelling to Cpl Remann. "Who the hell told you to fire?"

Remann yelled back angrily, "Didn't you see them? They were about to start firing on each other anyway. One of them walked into a Marine."

Haines looked around at his other team leaders. Herndon and Sanders didn't see how it happened. Haines' gaze fell on Knight. The lance corporal shrugged and said, "It's true. Greenholder and I saw it too."

Haines shook his head. "Nevermind," he said, frustrated.

SSgt Lindelli interrupted them. "Forget it," he said gruffly, "Prepare to move real soon. LT's working on a new rally point with 3rd."

"Roger Staff Sergeant," they all said.

Once Lt Lann had figured things out, the entire platoon got up to their feet and prepared to move. SSgt Lindelli told first squad to lead them out. Second was to follow, staying in the middle with the CO, and third squad would bring up the rear. Knight kept his eyes fixed on their six o'clock, waiting for the enemy counterattack he believed to be coming at any moment.

He was correct. However, the counterattack didn't come from the rear. As the platoon trotted through the darkness, a pair of Phantoms closed in overhead. Plasma fire began raining from various turrets placed across the craft. Hovering directly above the retreating men, the Phantoms lowered Elites and Grunts into the middle of their formation.

Marines scrambled for cover while the Covenant troops engaged them. Cpl Sanders of Charlie team rushed an Elite. When he got within point blank range, he fired his MA5 directly into the alien's face. The sheer ferocity in the attack and the sustained fire quickly drained its shield and allowed his rounds to tear its flesh and armor apart. His Marines pushed up beside him, firing at Grunts all around them within the light of the gravity beam.

The main turret on one of the Phantoms turned to Charlie team. It fired a whitish pink blast of energy that struck LCpl Radley, a member of Charlie team, directly in the torso, exploding violently and ripping his upper body apart. The turret kept a steady rate of fire, peppering the area with explosive energy. Cpl Herndon from Alpha team fired his grenade launcher at the turret, but it harmlessly exploded along the underside of the Phantom.

Knight had taken up a position behind a nearby tree. There was too much confusion to tell what targets were what. One moment, a shadow would move in his field of vision and he would train his MA5 on it, and then the next it would fire and he would see muzzle flashes from another MA5. Then another shadow would move and he would see a plasma weapon, but the alien would be brought down just as soon as it entered his field of vision. Under the lights of the enemy craft, Charlie team engaged Grunts and Jackals at close range, using their assault rifles, knives, feet, and fists. Above, the plasma turrets along the sides of the Phantoms fired haphazardly into the surrounding trees while the main turrets pounded at the Marines below, inflicting severe casualties.

Ahead, the rest of the platoon had pushed out of the killzone and set up a support by fire position. But because the enemy forces were mixed in with 3rd squad, they weren't able to risk firing a shot. Lt Lann was shouting into his radio for Cpl Haines to push his squad out of the killzone, but Haines never heard because he had been gunned down by a red armored Elite.

Taking his chances, Knight fired into the melee with single shots. He watched a Grunt arm two plasma grenades and run at Cpl Sanders. The team leader squeezed off a quick burst into the Grunt, but the grenades went off anyway, killing him and LCpl Foye, another member of fireteam Charlie. Herndon and Remann began pulling their Marines out of the mess as more Covenant began to appear from the woods around them. PFC Grigby, the last member of Charlie team, was killed by the same Elite that killed Cpl Haines.

Knight saw Greenholder come out of the mess, running wide-eyed away from the fighting. He grabbed the PFC and pulled him behind his cover. Looking him in the eyes, Knight could see nothing but fear and despair. Despite a desire to be angry with him for running, he simply looked at the young Marine and felt sorry. Pulling him along, he led Greenholder into the woods and away from the fighting.

A grenade detonated behind them as they ran south through the park. They ran between clumps of trees and across shrub-covered paths. Knight could hear Remann shouting somewhere to their right. He led Greenholder to the sound of their team leader's voice. Eventually, they stumbled into him and the remaining members of third squad.

They took a position within a grove of trees. Remann looked Knight and Greenholder over and asked, "Are you guys hit?"

"No," Knight replied, and Greenholder shook his head quickly.

Just then, PFC Hernandez came running through the bushes. Seeing them, he took a knee beside them. Remann asked him, "Hernandez, what happened to Charlie team?"

"I don't know," Hernandez said, "It got too crazy. I barely even realized you guys had all left. I would still be out there. I'd be dead." He was out of breath, resting his rifle against his knee while he attempted to regain composure.

Knight spoke up, "Sanders and Foye got hit with plasma grenades. I saw Haines and everyone else get taken out by one of the bigger Elites."

"Where's the rest of the platoon?" Hernandez asked, bewildered.

Remann replied, "I can't reach them on comms. I don't know. Headed to first platoon probably."

Cpl Herndon, with LCpl Day behind him, came up to Remann. He took a knee and said, "Bro we can't stay here. Those Phantoms will be hunting us. The Elites too."

"Okay," Remann agreed, "Let's get ready to move."

The alien dropships now circled the scene of the battle, scanning the surrounding areas with the massive lights mounted on their turrets.

Cpl Remann led them further south until they came upon a row of perfectly aligned three story houses. Hearing a Phantom hover above, the Marines rushed towards the houses. Opening the patio door, they quietly and swiftly moved inside. The door slid shut automatically, just before the Phantom's lights grazed the house over. The dropship circled the neighborhood for another minute before finally moving on.

Hidden under tables, behind couches, and within closets, the survivors of third squad relaxed and breathed a little easier. Remann got on his helmet comm and attempted to make contact with Lt Lann again. Herndon took everyone else and placed them in defensive positions around the house, telling them to stay concealed and to hold their fire unless discovered. Then they began waiting again.

Knight had been watching out from a window on the second floor for half an hour when he spotted a single, red-armored Elite slowly making its way down the street. It held a plasma rifle aloft in one hand and was eyeing each and every house as it walked by. When began walking towards the Marine-occupied position, Lann had just managed to relay the platoon's coordinates to them. Herndon came up to the second floor to inform Knight when he saw the Elite as well.

Unslinging his M319 launcher, he looked at Knight and tilted his head towards the approaching Elite. Knight nodded, wrapping his finger around the trigger of his assault rifle and taking aim. Herndon stood up and with a hollow thump, a fired a fragmentation grenade directly at the Elite's feet. It sent it staggering and knocked out its shields. Knight then fired a long burst from his MA5, the rounds catching the Elite along the upper long, up through the torso, and directly into the head. It fell over dead from the unexpected attack.

Soon, the Phantom's engines began to echo overhead. Cpl Remann gathered the squad and led them out into the street. They jogged east through the neighborhood, eventually coming across a main road. Knight realized that it was the main road leading from the hills into the city proper. Trotting past it tiredly, they came upon Marines hidden in the dark.

They had successfully linked up with the combined force of second and third platoon. They entered friendly lines and reported to SSgt Lindelli. Exhausted, the men took a knee to catch their breath. But their rest was cut short, as Lt Lann ordered the Marines to move out.

The two platoons began heading south. First platoon was only three hundred meters down the road. They would be able to move through the city in force, and if they were lucky, Delta Company would be around that sector to give them cover and possibly a ride. LCpl Knight fell into formation as the Marines stalked through the treeline.

Exhausted, hungry, and out of breath – he kept his hopes on getting to base and rearming for a counterattack. Although he tried to forget about them, the memory of his squadmates and their deaths began to slowly gnaw at his mind. Looking over at Greenholder, he saw that the look of shock and fear had still not left the young private first class. Doing his best to focus and keep himself together, LCpl Knight pressed on.


	13. Private First Class David Andreas 2

_Author's Note: Hey readers thanks for taking the time to read my fanfic. I've been a little slow to update recently because of schooling and work. Anyway, I would love to hear what people think about my stories._

_PFC Andreas, D. Day 2, 0200 Hrs_

The only two remaining members of 1st squad, 2nd platoon, Alpha Company were PFC Andreas and LCpl Gordon. After they had evacuated their last casualty, the two men were pulled from the decimated platoon and ordered to defend the company TOC. Immortal Company was still holed up in the crashed Covenant corvette, and Captain Ragland had made the ship's bridge his own command post. The two Marines stood post at the port side entrance to the room.

Captain Ragland was a heavily built man whose size came naturally to him. His face was dark and he spoke with a deep, booming voice. His mannerisms and speech were conducted with refined intellect. That was no surprise to the Marines because many knew he had come from a rich upbringing. He had let none of the circumstances of his earlier life grant him any military privilege however, and amongst the infantry, he proved himself to be a capable commander.

Andreas listened from beside the door as Cpt Ragland spoke into the radio to Delta Company. A hardly decipherable squawk of static came over to him from the other end of the line. Cpt Ragland said, "Paladin 6, you are coming in broken. Say again, over."

Static replied, and then the signal adjusted. Paladin 6, Delta Company's commander, answered back, "Immortal 6, we are taking light contact and are moving in for pick up, over." The rush of a Warthog's engine was heard behind the sound of his voice.

"Good copy Paladin 6. We'll be standing by, over."

"Paladin 6, out."

Cpt Ragland looked over at LCpl Beufort, his RTO, and said, "Beufort. Inform the platoons to get ready to move out. Once Delta gets here we're gonna pile onto their Warthogs any way we can."

"Yes sir," Beufort said before calling the Immortal Company platoons over the radio on his back.

A blast was heard outside, and both Gordon and Andreas stood on their toes and eyed the bulkhead they guarded. The sound of gunfire followed. The combined forces of second and third platoon were engaging the Covenant again. Soon, first platoon's position began engaging the Covenant as well. Overhead, Banshees zipped above and around the crash site.

Beufort came back to the captain with a sitrep from first platoon. The platoon leader was shouting into the radio, "Immortal 6, we are taking contact inside the building. Covenant forces are mixed in with our troops. We need to pull back, over!"

"Negative," Cpt Ragland told him, "Your position is vital. Hold your ground Marine. Evac is inbound. How copy over?"

"Roger," the platoon leader answered. The sounds of urban combat echoed over the radio. "Immortal 1, out."

Andreas watched the door intently as the battle resumed outside. Being posted in the TOC gave him access to the messages and orders that he would not normally be privileged to hear. Both he and Gordon had learned that the rest of the battalion had pulled back to Firebase Olympus downtown. Delta Company had finally broken through to them with a few transport Hogs from H&amp;S Company trailing along. As soon as the two units linked up within the apartment complex, Alpha Company would load up and abandon the crash site.

Their position was useless to them now. The intel that ONI had grabbed from the database had been retrieved long ago. Andreas wondered how the ONI team had managed to fare heading to the star port on foot. Shrugging his thoughts aside, he continued to vigilantly watch the door.

Paladin 6 came back over the radio. "Immortal 6 this is Paladin 6. We are holding position at the RV coordinates. Break. We are taking contact from all sides. Hurry up and get out here, over."

Cpt Ragland answered back, "Copy Paladin 6. Be advised, we will be coming from the northeast, over."

"Roger that. Paladin, out!"

Ragland turned back to Beufort and said, "Initiate the evacuation."

Andreas kept his eyes focused on the hall as Beufort began communicating to the other platoons. He caught a flicker of lighting outside the door, just as he heard first and second platoon begin to retreat. Squinting his eyes and wondering if he had even seen anything at all, Andreas tightened his grip on his MA5.

A sudden flash of blue plasma erupted from the empty air and flew dangerously past his face. He ducked from the doorway as fast as he could. On the other side, LCpl Gordon opened fire. His assault rifle sent a deadly hail of rounds ricocheting throughout the interior bulkheads. Several of the rounds exploded into fiery sparks against the energy shields of a now-emerging, black armored Elite. It fired a long burst at Gordon as it ducked behind a corner for cover.

Gordon leaned back behind cover. This time, Andreas fired his weapon out into the hall, keeping the Elite's head pinned down. Behind them, Cpt Ragland and LCpl Buefort had taken defensive positions and the former was taking loudly to the different call stations over the lance corporal's radio. Eventually, the captain stood up from behind cover and shouted out to Gordon, "Marines! Evac. Now. Let's go!"

Obeying, Gordon and Andreas broke contact with the Elite at the door. Just as they made their way to the captain, Gordon pointed his rifle upwards and shouted, "Look out sir!" He fired his weapon as a figure rapidly descended from above.

The figure twisted around, powering an energy sword and slashing LCpl Buefort across the torso. The Marine screamed as the weapon sent him to the ground. Gordon had run out of ammo and hastily began to reload. Andreas raised his rifle to fire but plasma fire from behind caused him to duck and return fire upon the portside doorway.

Captain Ragland shouted something loud and incoherent amid the noise of the fighting. He brought his assault rifle up and fired his weapon at the sword-wielding Elite. It roared as the bullets rippled against its shielding. Fighting its way directly into the stream of 7.62 rounds, the alien slashed at Ragland's weapon, severing it in half. The captain stumbled back as he dropped the assault rifle. He ducked as the Elite swung at him and backed off, reaching for his M6D magnum.

Before the fight could continue, Gordon opened fire on the Elite. The shields fluctuated under his attack, bursting around the Elite as several rounds struck heavily against its armor. Rolling swiftly to the side, the Elite quickly found cover and disappeared from view.

Andreas ducked and reloaded his assault rifle. When he peered back up and scanned the room for targets, he found none. The room was silent aside from LCpl Gordon talking to Cpt Ragland. Andreas continued scanning the room, searching for any signs of the Elite's optic camouflage. He watched intently for a while, then out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement to the left of him. Turning, he brought his rifle around and squeezed off a burst. He wasn't fast enough.

Dual plasma rifles fired at the PFC from the exposed flank of his cover. The large Marine doubled over as multiple rounds struck him in the chest. Sharp, searing pain shot through his body as the plasma fire cut through his body armor. He fell with a heavy thud, grasping and struggling to stand and raise his MA5. The smell of his burning flesh came at him from dozens of smoking wounds across his upper body. He screamed out in pain.

A frag grenade detonated where the Elite had been standing. Andreas saw Gordon and Cpt Ragland standing over him, firing heavily at the enemy as they pulled Andreas away from the battle. When they reached the door, only Gordon was pulling Andreas. The lance corporal was having trouble moving the large Marine, but he gave the effort no pause.

Behind them, Cpt Ragland suppressed the Elite, barely avoiding plasma fire as he did so. He took a grenade, primed it, and tossed it out into the room. Turning back to the two Marines just as it detonated, he shouted and motioned at them. "Go! Go!" he yelled. Just as he entered the doorway, the burning light of an energy sword burst from his chest. He was lifted up and kicked off the blade. Andreas watched with fading vision. Gordon pulled at Andreas without a look back.

Cpt Ragland, still alive, began to grab at the deck and drag himself forward. He trailed blood as the Elite hovered ominously over him. With his right hand, he reached for his M6D. The Elite, taunting him in its alien tongue, shouted something before bringing his sword down and beheading the fallen Marine officer.

By then, Gordon had taken Andreas outside the ship. His consciousness fading quickly, the PFC observed a wild firefight within the heavily damaged apartment complex. Dozens of Marines were cut down on their way to the waiting convoy. The convoy itself was being hammered by Wraith artillery and Banshee strikes. The LAAGs would fire powerfully into the air, bringing down several of the alien craft but many more replaced the fallen ones. Fuel rods and streams of plasma fire struck Warthogs, sending them bursting into flames and shrapnel.

Andreas could barely hear anything. He kept drifting in and out of consciousness. He felt himself being loaded into the back of a Warthog. Gordon tapped him on the feet and turned away, rushing back into the fight to aid the rest of their company. A corpsman sat beside Andreas, pouring biofoam into his wounds and checking his vitals. She shook her head to herself as she continued treating him.

Beside the Warthog, Andreas could distinctly hear a familiar voice speaking calmly. The Banshees swooped in again. The Warthogs focused their fire and took out a formation of the enemy fliers. Yet plasma fire still strafed the convoy, striking dozens of Marines and their vehicles. The person speaking beside Andreas was talking into a radio.

He said, "Artemis, Artemis. Enemy positions are at grid: Oscar Tango three five seven two, two one four six. How copy over?" It was the voice of Paladin 6, Delta Company's captain.

"Good copy Paladin 6. Artemis is on station. Hostile foot mobiles located around Objective Gold Mine. Engaging." Andreas watched as a barrage of cannon fire and missiles rained down from the sky upon the crashed corvette. His former position went up in flames as Covenant troops were torn apart by shrapnel and the continual fire from Artemis.

The Warthogs began to move out. Andreas felt himself falling asleep. His vision began to darken, and soon he shut his eyes completely. Lying back within the bouncing Warthog, he breathed out what few breaths he could. The corpsman beside him pressed two fingers to his neck again. She cursed and then began compressions on his chest. Andreas felt none of it. It was too late and she already knew it. Private First Class Andreas had died of his wounds.


End file.
